HE SPENT WEEKS waiting for the call after the season had come to an end.
While his 2017 campaign concluded with an injury setback, Shaun Patton had cause for optimism regarding his hopes of being retained by Sligo Rovers for another year. Although he spent the majority of the season deputising for Micheál Schlingermann, Patton played an important role for Gerard Lyttle’s team when the stakes were at their highest.
With Schlingermann absent due to injury, Patton conceded just once in Sligo’s final four games. At the end of a season during which they often appeared destined to be relegated from the top tier of Irish football, the contribution of the former Finn Harps and Derry City goalkeeper helped Rovers to maintain their top-flight status.
But Patton won’t be at the Showgrounds to reap the benefits of their successful bid for survival when the new season kicks off next month. When he did eventually receive a phonecall with an offer for 2018, it wasn’t from Sligo Rovers.
Despite not playing a game of Gaelic football since starting in goal for his club St Eunan’s in a three-point defeat to Omagh St Enda’s in an Ulster club semi-final in November 2014, Patton has been drafted into the Donegal senior panel by new manager Declan Bonner.
Given that Donegal have been enquiring about his availability for the last three years, it’s perhaps not surprising Bonner recently suggested that Patton is capable of overtaking Mark Anthony McGinley and Peter Boyle in the battle to start between the posts for the county.
I’ve committed to the Donegal panel for the foreseeable future,” Patton explains. “I had offers from two [League of Ireland] clubs and I was chatting with some others, but I’ve decided that the GAA is the best option for me at the moment. Eventually the chance to play for Donegal was going to stop presenting itself. Now is the right time.”
Patton, who trained with Donegal for the first time last week, is almost back to full fitness after fracturing his ankle back in October. He sustained the injury in the second half of Sligo Rovers’ final game of the season — a goalless draw with Drogheda United.
It may also transpire to be the last game of football Patton ever plays. It’s far too early to predict what his career as a senior inter-county GAA player will bring, and the 22-year-old from Letterkenny is unlikely to rule out a reversal. But for the time being at least, his sole focus is on making an impact with Donegal. There’ll be no dual mandate.
“It was a massive decision,” he admits. “It had to be one or the other. You can’t really do both these days. Football is on the backburner now for me. I chatted to Declan and I liked the way he spoke. His attitude is very professional. That helped me to make the decision. It took me a long time to make that decision but hopefully for me it’s the right one.”
Patton is content with his decision, but the transition is simultaneously bittersweet. His chances of carving out a good career in professional football looked promising back in March 2012 when he made his first-team debut for Finn Harps at the age of just 16.
“There’s definitely disappointment,” Patton says. “I’ve played football all my life and it’s always been my first sport. But I was always very fond of the Gaelic [football] when I was growing up. It was just hard to throw away that dream of going across to England and playing football over there.
“The League of Ireland is good — it’s intense, it’s enjoyable, it’s a high level — but the way things have ended there is disappointing. I didn’t really get a chance to show what I could do. Having said that, I’m not really looking at it that way. I’m seeing this as a fresh start which can hopefully bring me down a good path. I just hope it takes off and I can thrive with Donegal and my club.
“I’ll never close the door on anything. I always like to keep the door open. But my only focus now is Gaelic. The hope is that I do well enough this year for next year to be even bigger for me. That’s all I care about now. Football is completely gone for me at the minute.”
Perhaps the most significant factor that prompted Patton to make a change is the uncertainty that faces League of Ireland players at the end of each season. Clubs like Cork City, Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers are beginning to return to a policy of offering year-round contracts, but the vast majority of players are still faced with the prospect of standing in a dole queue or picking up a temporary job during the off-season.
“It’s the same for most players unfortunately,” Patton says. “It’s up in the air and you don’t know where you stand when the contract expires. I was hoping to get another contract with Sligo. If they had offered one I would have signed it in a heartbeat. I loved it down there — the people, the place, the club, everything. It’s lovely.
“But it didn’t work out. For whatever reason, I don’t know. I wasn’t phoned or anything to be made aware that I wasn’t wanted. I was in limbo, waiting for the phone to ring, but it got to a stage where I knew it wasn’t going to. I had to give myself a reality check and make a decision.
“I suppose it showed me how fickle the League of Ireland can be. You have Cork, Dundalk and Shams in a position where they’re able to pay the 52-week contracts now, which is nice, but if you’re at a club that doesn’t want you back then it leaves you in a tough position.
“I have my Leaving Cert but I didn’t go to college because I was playing football full-time. At the moment I’m thinking of going back to college or applying for the guards and getting myself a stable job. I’m just hoping and praying that I thrive in the Gaelic, like I expect myself to.”
Regarding the scarcity of contact nor contract from Sligo Rovers, Patton says: “I’m not a bitter kind of person. There’s obviously a lot of disappointment. I loved the year in Sligo and I really like the manager. I’m disappointed, absolutely, but not bitter.
“Football is a cut-throat game. I would have appreciated a call to say ‘thanks for your contribution but we don’t have room for you this season’, or whatever. That would have made things a lot easier for me, rather than having me waiting for something that didn’t come. But I’m not bitter at all. I wish Sligo Rovers all the best. With the squad that they’ve put together, I can only see them doing much better than last season.”
As for the moratorium on wages that exists during the winter, Patton doesn’t claim to have the solution to the problem. He does, however, feel that more could be done by the Football Association of Ireland to improve the lot of players in its national league.
“It’s a bit ridiculous in this day and age. Come the end of the season, 90% of League of Ireland players have to go and find a job or sign on the dole. It’s not down to the clubs. It’s impossible for the vast majority of clubs to pay 52-week contracts with the gates that they get.
“I’ve been around the whole country with football for the past six years. You’re at games where there might be only 500 or 600 spectators. For that club to then pay players at the end of the week is not easy.
“It’s obviously a difficult one to solve. The only way I can see it happening is if money is pumped from the headquarters into the league, rather than investing it in other ways. I think the money should be invested in our own league like that, especially with the potential we’ve seen over the past five or ten years with so many players going across the water and playing for Ireland.
“There’s so much potential here but unfortunately a lot of players are turned off the League of Ireland when you have to put in so much commitment for a season but you’re then unemployed at the end of it. It’s not easy when you’re only getting paid for 10 months of the year.
“Even in the future if you’re looking to get a mortgage, those breaks in payment don’t look good to your bank. But that’s the reality of our league at the minute. You play for the love of the game, which is what I’ve been doing, but eventually it comes to a point where it’s difficult to go on without income for two months of the year.
“I just think more could come from the headquarters but that’s just my opinion on it. I don’t think I know what’s best for everybody. I’m not the man who’s going to solve it.”
After leaving the League of Ireland behind, Patton is now waiting for his first chance to make an impression with Donegal. With a fortnight to go until they travel to Kerry for the start of the Allianz League, they resume their McKenna Cup campaign today against Monaghan in Clones.
“A lot of people never really got to see what I could do with the Gaelic, so this is a chance for me to change that,” Patton insists. “This is a fresh start for me. It’s refreshing to see the attitude of the players and the drive within a group of guys that want to do well for their county, not just for themselves. They’re doing it for the county and that’s a nice thing to be a part of.
“I’m just looking to get myself back to 100% now and, once I do that, I’ll be able to push myself and hopefully become number one for Donegal. It’s obviously not going to be easy because the keepers there at the minute are very good. It will take a lot to push them out but that’s the aim over the next year or two.”
He hasn’t taken his first step yet and it’s a long road from here to the second weekend in May. However, if Patton is keen to leave his League of Ireland disappointment behind him, a start in the Ulster Championship opener against Cavan might be just the tonic.
Terrible Game. Waste of time for everyone.
A change to the rules would eliminate blanket poop football.
Leinster is a waste of time for the dubs , they only get a proper game when it comes to the all Ireland quarters / semi finals …
Agreed but Dublin were very casual today. Leinster does Dublin no good. They develop bad habits when the games are not competitive. Bad decision making, bad wides and some very sloppy passes. Furthermore, it seems nobody is allowed tackle McCauley hard anymore. Anytime MDMA gets a hard tackle he reacts like a petulant child. His lack of discipline could cost Dublin in a more competitive match further down the line. McCauley is a fine player but he needs to check his ego ASAP.
Apart from his discipline he was the worst Dublin player in the first half, surprised he came back out at HT
It’s a waste of time for every team involved not just dublin.
Something really wrong when a team is winning their provincial Championship by an aggregate score of +59 points in 3 games.
10 Leinster titles in 11 years. It’s stroll in the (Croke) Park every single year.
Current system not doing anyone any good.
Inter-county game dying a death outside the capital. More and more players dropping out of county panels to take the summer off. Increasingly not worth it with the near professional commitment and training levels.
GAA won’t change with all the money they make off Dublin’s back. They’ll regret it when it’s too late.
The Leinster final is always going to be in Croke Park, and in fairness would it really make any difference if Dublin were playing away? I’d love to travel to away matches like in hurling but the Leinster Council aren’t going to move us anytime soon.
Emigration has a lot to do with some of the more rural counties’ lack of competitiveness, I feel. Kildare for example have lost three or four of their brightest young prospects to the likes of AFL or the States. It probably affects Dublin to a lesser extent and it’s not something the GAA can easily address.
As for Championship structures, Jim McGuinness came up with a brilliant new approach, integrating the All-Ireland series, provincial championships and the league, thereby making all three competitions relevant. Hard to see it even being debated in Congress though.
The situation regarding adult club football and hurling is a far bigger danger to the Association than the Dubs’ success, soccer and rugby combined, IMO. Who wants to hang around for three months in summer without being able to book holidays or having any matches? Having a reliable fixture calendar for club players (who make up 95% of the GAA’s membership) should be a major priority.
2_13and 16wides it’s true Dublin cannot play against a blanket.
Poor match, Dublin will be caught wanting when they play a proper team .
What a waste of GAA development money 2/3.of all the development money
going to Dublin and they have to be within 25 yards of goal to score . Dublin’s
strength is their home venue .
Westmeath had 14 men in their own 45 for 65 minutes with no effort to attack and Dublin still win by 12! Your right if they played at Parnell park they would have been better
yes it was a very poor match it’s hard to have a game when one team tried and the other tries to keep the score down but that is the result of the cancer that has set in unfortunatelythanks mickle harte you did the game a great service.
idiot
I presume your not referring to me if I am how am I an idiot please explain
If you think a 13 point win against a blanket defence is a negative you are an idiot
The biggest shock is that 48000 paid to watch a training session masquerading as a match. There were 4 qualifiers yesterday a 2 point margin a 23 point margin a 9 point margin and a 19 point margin. That paints a picture of what state the game is in. But true GAA people won’t pull their heads out of their arses long enough to see there’s a problem.
Sorry @John but thats an insult to the many supporters around the country that follow their team through thick and thin. Does one not simply bother turning up because their team is not as good as their opponent……..or the other way around. Your talking through your arse
As I said head right up your arse. I’ve no problem supporting a team through thick n thin but when it’s the same teams every single year in the thin category it wears you down. There’s only so many times you can watch a team getting slaughtered. People like you think us counties who’s teams are canon fodder year after year should be so grateful for the experience. Well f**k that.
put the Dubs into Ulster !
anto ulster is the same curcus different clowns
My point been is that Ulster is only province where you can say there is 3/4 teams that will win it. Connacht is nearly always Mayo for the last few years, Munster is either Cork or Kerry and in Leinster there is no one within an asses roar of Dublin I think they would be better off ditching the current provincial format and have a Champions league style league format that starts in March and runs to September, that ways every team is guarenteed 5/6 championship matches, home and away. The top 2 in every group ho through yo quaternary finals. Also this would mean the Dubs would have to travel for championship games and spread the weslth5
Donegal fifth final In a row very monaghan fourth out of five staggering competition up there alright.
Was Armagh and Tyrone, now Donegal and Monaghan. No walkovers. New challengers next year.
If you want to make comparisons look to Munster – Cork v Kerry forever.
Instead of putting counties who are too good for one province into another, should just scrap the provincial championship!
not making comparison Peter but the whole competitive ulster championship is a nonsense as you say yourself replace two teams with two other.
But that’s because most Munster counties are hotbeds of hurling- in which they have an extremely competitive provincial championship. You could make the same argument about Ulster- in which there’s a hurling championship dominated by one team, but the football championship is much harder to dominate.
What a game. What a weekend for Dublin! Come on you boys in blue!!!
what a game me arse
your right Lenny only one team trying not to play. instead of two no brawls (ulster intensity) and no one half killed behind a kids band
The Dubs win the Leinster title and you still manage to bring Ulster teams into it Paul. Obsessed.
It was a desperate game Sean
not obsessed Joe I said long ago ulster killed Gaelic football with the ploy of bad teams playing spoiling football. it’s time for the gaa to take action against this disease thank god the big teams are still playing the right way.
Dublin are the most likeable Dublin team in a while. Great football and no preening or posturing. Such a same to hear a portion of the crowd booing Westmeath wides etc.
These players deserve as much respect as the Dublin players.
Disappointed with Westmeath today… Such a same they decided to play the blanket defence. Shame on Donegal for ruining the game…
“Shame”
Yeah you are right, Westmeath should have played more openly, left 6 men up front and got beat by 25 points. Spirit of the game and all that….
Shame on Donegal????
Do your research, this was around before Jim McGuinness figured out how to use it right. Also, remember, the only puke football game was the semi in 2011 against Dublin. After that attack was mixed with defence. Look at the 2014 semi against Dublin. And the games in between. Donegal perfected both parts of the game. Teams like westmeath and derry etc play blanket defence with no ability to attack. That’s the difference and that’s why you should have a proper look at things rather than incorrectly taking a cheap shot at Donegal. It’s getting old at this stage. And, while I’m at it, where does it say in the rules a particular style of play is required? Nowhere, that’s where. Stupid arguements everywhere about this. If westmeath employed some of the proposed rule changes people on here claim will fix GAA forever, they’d have been hockeyed by about 30 points by Dublin today.
I would of enjoyed that more anyway….
You’d have preferred to watch a non-competitive 30 point mauling ?
Tyrone ruined it Donegal took it to a new level sadly.
See Paul, that’s the common misconception. They may well have but Donegal games don’t rememble what we saw this afternoon. Donegal perfected the almost perfect defensive system and supplemented it by devastating counter attacking. If people remembered all of that there’d be less of the short-sighted comments about Donegal ruining football. Donegal should be appreciated for how they actually play the game. They inspired teams like Derry etc who can’t do it right and now get the blame for their shortcomings. That annoys me.
* …with devastating…..
I wouldn’t bother with Paul Tom. He’s staunchly anti ulster football so regardless of how effective Donegals counter attacking football is you’ll hear no praise from him. He doesn’t understand what competitive means as he’s proved time and time again. You don’t have to like the style of football but anyone who thinks it’s not competitive and that nearly every game isn’t up for grabs hasn’t a clue about sport in general.
so everyone outside ulster who looks on that style of football with discust are all suffering a misconception tom.
But Donegal have a healthy sprinkling of players who would get into any team in the country- thinking of Mark McHugh and Colm McFadden (on 2012 form), Neil Gallagher, Frank McGlynn, Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty, the McGees. They have a deadly full-forward line, so it makes sense to play that way, leaving lots of space for their inside forwards and support runners.
The likes of Derry, Cavan, Westmeath just don’t have the same players to execute a counter-attacking system like Donegal did. They won’t win an All-Ireland, but they generally become much more competitive under such a system, as goals are very hard to come by against massed defences. So they will continue to play defensively until there are either rule changes or someone figures out how to defeat it (as Eamon Fitzmaurice did last September).
I see that there’s a challenge game coming up under the Brolly rules (having a minimum/maximum number of players in certain parts of the field at all times) which will be interesting to observe.
The #GAA might eventually realise that allowing teams to empty the opposition half to defend might not be good for the game. A simple rule like a ‘A team must maintain at least 4 (or maybe even 6) players in the opposition half at all times. It could be policed by linesmen or a ref in the sky with radio communication to referee!
As much as how bad that looked, it would have looked a hell of a lot worse if those rules were introduced. The problem is with Leinster not the game itself.
Im just delighted to see the Dubs lift the trophy again. There are obvious problems in the provincial set up but you cant blame Dublin.
Dublin have thousands more playing at every level. The smaller counties are nearly done with GAA. Only teams who concentrate on either football or hurling are serious contenders for All Irelands- your Donegals KK’s etc.
As for Westmeath’s tactics and Donegals puke- the solution:
1. The 6 forwards cannot enter their own half. 2 Midfielders can roam as the see fit.
2. No. hand passes limited to 1 per move.
According to the last GAA annual report there are 3 counties with higher participation rates than Dublin
@Wayne really? Wouldn’t have thought that. They have great facilities etc on top of numbers.
A change to the rules is painfully needed.
Kildare, and cork have more participants can’t remember the other. Remember a large part of Dublin’s population is from other counties.
Hep Dublin are winning we need to change the rules
dougal turkeys don’t vote for Christmas Dublin and Kerry are thegaa in football the rest are a sideshow.
Steady lads- i’m not having a go at Dublin, i prefer watching them and Kerry than any other teams.
It’s football that loses as the old saying goes. Dublin and other proper footballing teams would clean up with Doogle Rules !
was not worth the entrance money.
A farce as is the whole GAA football game, same old merry go round every year. Skill? None. Only kids could be exited by such a pathetic sight as today. As for adults dressed in football shirts. Jesus!
Imagine that! Adults in football shirts at a football game.. Whatever next! Obviously none of your fellow Fulham Supporters (yes people, you read that right, he sports Fulham!) wear football shirts?!
Touché!
David put firmly back in his box
Corporate box?
If Meath were der they would of won it
But they weren’t, as Westmeath made history in finally beating them. ;) Still a proud Westmeath fan!