THERE was no disguising Paddy McGrath's delight at one youthful addition to his life and he has welcomed newcomers to the Donegal panel too.
The Ardara man proudly played with his three-month-old daughter Isla Rose in the sunshine at Celtic Park after a comfortable Ulster SFC quarter-final victory over old rivals Derry.
2018 has been fairly momentous for him already: he has entered his 30th year and become a father, declaring: "You wouldn't change a thing, she's the best wee thing and Stephanie is keeping the whole thing going!"
At the age of 29, only fellow defenders Frank McGlynn and Neil McGee are older than him, and McGrath has welcomed the continuing rejuvenation of the Tir Chonaill squad under manager Declan Bonner:
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"It's great for us older boys to see the youth in Donegal and the under 20s did well there too [thrashing Cavan by 2-21 to 0-10].
"That's great for the county and that's what we need to be fit to compete with those top six teams.
"We need those young boys coming on all the time, but they showed that they can step up to the mark, especially the boys that came off the bench looking for game-time."
Donegal face Down next, in the second Ulster semi-final on Sunday June 10, after the Mournemen strolled past Antrim, and he's anticipating a test of Donegal's depth, with injury doubts over McGee, Michael Langan, and Jamie Brennan arising out of the Derry game:
"I didn't see it [Down-Antrim], but I saw some of the highlights. Down will present their own challenges in the next game so we're just going to have to prepare for that.
"This two-week thing seems to be good, you get over a game now and you just have to get the heads right for the next game. They are coming thick and fast and you need a big panel. If there are any injuries another man just has to step up to the mark."
His own return to fitness was obviously welcome, having sat out the Ulster opener at home to Cavan: "Yeah I missed it through injury and I'm just trying to get back up to the speed of the game again. I missed most of the league as well, so it's just going to take a wee bit to just get back up to where it was.
"It was the knee initially and then there was just little niggles. You are trying to get back up to the level the boys are at, and then hamstrings and calves and quads and these wee niggles come at you. It was actually a calf injury that kept me out, but the more game-time I get and training I get under the belt the better I'll get."
To that end, he played for an hour against Derry, which was no mean feat in the heat, although he deflected any praise onto others: "That's right, I was glad to get through the 60 minutes there and fair play to the medical team too. So much of that work isn't seen in the background and how they go about their business. It's a credit to them."
McGrath was content with the Donegal display in those testing enough circumstances: "It was a good result for us, it was never going to be easy coming into Derry to try and get a result in here. It was very warm out there, tongues were out in the first 10 minutes but it was a good sporting contest.
"There's always room for improvement and getting more scores, but thankfully the scores are coming. We are conceding too, but the football is a bit more open with the style of play. It's good and everybody that came to watch it got a good game there.
Defensively, Donegal are arguably placing more demands on their defenders now, but McGrath has no problems with that: "You still have to man-mark and do your job. It's never easy who you are marking or how you are playing, but you still have your job to do at the end of the day. It presents its own challenges, yes, but we are fit to step up to the mark."
