IT SEEMS absurd to think that less than a decade ago, Donegal were lambasted for their defensive style of play. Absurd because now, in 2021, the objection that the county is facing is a lack of proper defenders.

This criticism has developed over the past few seasons, and tends to centre around an over-reliance on Neil McGee being the only experienced defender in the back line, especially given Stephen McMenamin and Paddy McGrath have had fitness issues. The issue was exacerbated this year when Neil McGee was carried off after five minutes against Tyrone in this year’s Ulster Championship. His absence was one of the reasons why Donegal would go on to lose that game.

Shaun Paul Barrett is a former minor coach for Donegal. He managed the county’s minors in 2016 and 2017, and he was u-20 manager in 2020 .

He explained the issue that Donegal currently face with their defence.

“Donegal definitely had issues with defence this year. There were combination of reasons, but particularly injuries to some key defenders.

“Neil McGee, Stephen McMenamin and Paddy McGrath all struggled with injuries. Odhran McFadden Ferry was just back from overseas duty with the Irish Army. Then Donegal were forced to play some players who are better going forward in defence.”

Playing with players who are better going forward in attack than defending is an issue that Manus Boyle, the former Donegal player and All-Ireland winner, has highlighted. He said that the fashion in Gaelic football has meant that the options at the disposal of a county manager have decreased.

Boyle said: “I grew up with defenders like Martin Shovelin, Martin Gaffigan, Matt Gallagher. Then you had a combination who were put in with Barry McGowan, Noel Hegarty, Donal Reid who were attack-minded defenders. The role was always to be a defender. They were defenders first and then if they could contribute something going forward they did so. But predominantly their brain told them they were defenders.

“Skip forward a few years. Then you have exceptional players like Karl Lacey and Frank McGlynn who could bomb forward and didn’t look out of place if they ended up up front. But their first role as a defender was to attack. Whereas when you had the two McGees and Anthony Thompson, their principal role was to defend and to cover the two boys. Big Neil Gallagher was important cover as well.

“The generations of today, all they saw was Lacey and McGlynn. They were the ones to get the plaudits. I know the McGees got their All-Stars and medals, but the press and supporters pick the players that shine. And the youngsters follow those. They want to be in the spotlight. They don’t want to be a defender who sits back.

“Many of the coaches that came through at that time encouraged that sort of play and that sort of player. They encouraged their player to defend en masse and attack en masse. When you attack en masse and you leave a hole, and the thing breaks down then you need players who can defend. Sadly, with McGee coming to an end, Stephen McMenamin not getting to the fitness levels that he had the year before and Paddy McGrath coming close to an end, we don’t have three or four defensive minded players.”

Boyle said the evidence of Donegal’s defensive frailties were highlighted by Monaghan in the league more than they were against Tyrone. He felt that the Murphy sending off was the deciding factor in that Red Hand game.

Monaghan in contrast were able to open up Donegal’s defence and expose the weaknesses.

Yet Boyle said that the issue of a lack of specialised man-marking, defenisive minded backs is one that faces the whole country, and not just Donegal.

“Most of the good teams in Gaelic football have very few all-out defenders, defenders who don’t cross the 50. That is the way coaching is going. Maybe other teams have more of them than Donegal.

“We were very dependent on the likes of McGee, McMenamin and Michael Murphy in their defensive roles. We don’t have a ready made replacement for them. I think that if you go to our underage development set ups then most of our players are going to be coached into able to attack.

“I know McGee made the odd foray forward, but I think that was just to keep warm.”

So how does Boyle think that Donegal can address this development?

“I think whoever the Donegal management are going to be they have to sit down and take a look at the players they have. They are going to have to do a bit of coaching and develop a more defensive minded player in their group. They may have to do it with six or seven players in the hope that they can replace the likes of McGee and McMenamin. Maybe McMenamin can still get back to the fitness that he had a few years ago, but they just can’t rely on him.”

Shaun Paul Barrett, the u-20 coach, agreed with that assessment.

He said: “I think we need to be coaching players to defend. We have to develop players out there to be top defenders.

“Every player has potential and Donegal is full of players with a lot of ability. I think the team need to defend as unit. This year they were far too easy to get through.”

And he added that the pressure to address the issue with defending is acute.

“There is a possibility that Neil McGee and Paddy McGrath wont be back. So Donegal needs fresh blood coming into the panel to drive it on.”

KEY MAN… Neil McGee is one of just a few all-out defenders that Donegal have

SHOW MAN… Supporters and press loved Karl Lacey and that attention inspired a generation of young players, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing