COMMENT: Paddy McGrath is a top class defender who enjoyed a fantastic campaign for Donegal in 2016 – but unfortunately he has yet again missed out on a coveted All-Star award.
McGrath’s job for Donegal is an unenviable role, he’s always the player tasked with the responsibility to mark one of the opponents best players.
But McGrath is never found wanting for Donegal.
Never.
He has time after time performed brilliantly for Donegal and has been without doubt one of their most consistent players of the last six seasons.
He goes about his business without any fuss, but he never gets the credit he deserves.
He may not be as technically or naturally gifted as his hero Damien Diver – but McGrath is one of the best defenders in Ireland – and he has been for a number of years.
Conor McManus is one of the best forwards in Ireland, a class act who terrorised Donegal in the Ulster SFC final in 2015.
This summer, Donegal faced Monaghan and Rory Gallagher’s side eventual got the better of them after a replay victory.
One of the main reasons for Donegal’s win, was the incredible man marking job Paddy McGrath did on McManus.
He nullified his threat from play, and while McManus was still deadly from placed balls, McGrath snuffed him out with deadly effect.
It was another selfless display from McGrath who followed those two performances up with excellent outings against Tyrone, Cork and Dublin.
He enjoyed a terrific year in 2012, but missed out on an All-Star, and this year he has again unfortunately missed out on being honoured nationally with an All-Star.
Former Donegal manager summed up the type of player McGrath is with the following statement on him.
McGuinness was speaking about McGrath, and an injury concern he had prior to Donegal’s All-Ireland U21 final with Dublin. McGrath had a broken jaw.
“I saw the x-ray myself. Paddy said to the surgeon, ‘if I go out and get it broken again, what’s the worst that can happen’.
“The surgeon told him, ‘I’ll fix it’.
“Paddy said, ‘that’s OK then. I’m going to play in the game’. That’s the type of person that predominantly wins you football matches and I’m glad to have him in my team.”
McGrath is similar to Frank McGlynn in many aspects, they stay out of the spotlight, and focus solely on their jobs for Donegal.
Both are incredibly consistent, but McGlynn has got the recognition outside of Donegal, and his colleague McGrath deserves that too.
He’s a class act, and one of the best around, I suppose we don’t need an All-Star to confirm that.
But come the summer, and the start of the Ulster SFC – when Donegal take to the field, they’ll be a man in the corner and his name is Paddy McGrath.
Thank god we have him.
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