FORMER Donegal defender Neil McGee says his native county have too many quality players to even think about the next couple of years being a period of consolidation following Michael Murphy’s shock retirement last month.
McGee himself retired from inter-county football two months earlier but doesn’t buy into the notion that Donegal won’t be competitive in 2023.
“The talk going about is ‘consolidation’ but once you go through all the players – Shaun Patton, Brendan McCole, Eoghan ‘Ban’ [Gallagher], all top defenders, then you’ve Hugh McFadden, Jason McGee, Michael Langan, Ciaran Thompson, Ryan McHugh, Patrick McBrearty, Oisin Gallen, Peadar Mogan, the O’Donnells – that’s a lot of top quality players.
“I’d still imagine Donegal will be competitive.”
New boss Paddy Carr was announced as Declan Bonner’s successor in October and will be assisted by Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley.
Carr won an All-Ireland title with Kilmacud Croke's in 2009 before moving to Ballymun Kickhams.
The vibes coming out of Donegal's pre-season training appear to be very positive so far.
“It’s about all the players buying into it and getting behind Paddy [Carr].
“There’s a squad there well capable of pushing for Division One and pushing for Ulster titles and getting into the latter stages of the All-Ireland. That’s what they should be aiming for, although there are five or six Ulster teams that would have the same targets so it’s very tough.
“But hopefully now they’ll step up and fill that [leadership] void [left my Murphy]. A lot of them are doing it for their clubs so I don’t see why not. There are loads of leaders in that squad.”
McGee added: “I know of Paddy Carr and I know he has a great managerial record but I wouldn’t know him personally. But he was involved with successful clubs in Dublin.
“I’d know Aidan O’Rourke well and I’d know Paddy Bradley very well. I’ve been chatting to a few boys and they’re really enjoying their training, things are going well.”
Donegal open their Division One account at home to Kerry on Sunday January 29 and have McKenna Cup games against Monaghan and Down before then.
It’s the first time in 18 years McGee hasn’t done pre-season training. The highly regarded 37-year-old Gweedore man announced his retirement which was hastened by a serious back injury he sustained in an Ulster Championship semi-final with Tyrone in 2021.
“In your head you think you can still play on but the body’s not listening to the head,” McGee said, a key member of Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland winning team and three-time Allstar.
“Since I got that bang I was reacting to everything that wee bit slower so I definitely got out at the right time. In fairness, I had a good long run at it. I could have no regrets.”
While he expects to miss the buzz of playing when Donegal take to the field again next month, his daily life is less stressful and is enjoying the freedom of not having to be rushing from work to training.
“I still try and do a bit of running and gym work. I suppose one thing you have to watch now is the portion sizes you’re eating.”
