Colm McFadden return boosts options for Rory Gallagher

Colm McFadden’s return to the Donegal bench, and then to the pitch as a late substitute, was a crumb of comfort for manager Rory Gallagher to take from a difficult evening in Dublin. The 2012 All-Ireland winner and All Star hadn’t featured until now because of a calf injury.

However, fellow veteran Neil McGee’s absence was intriguing as he was named to play, having served his suspension for a one-match ban arising from an incident in the Kerry game.

It was presumed that the broken nose sustained by McGee during that flashpoint in Kerry, had sidelined him, though Gallagher explained the situation.

“No, Neil has a minor hip-flexor problem, and himself and Frank (McGlyyn), who has a minor hamstring problem, sat it out,” said Gallagher. “If it had been a Championship day, they would have been out on the pitch, but there’s no point in risking them, putting them out for four or five weeks.

“They’re huge players for us. We don’t like to go out any day without them, but, at the same time, we felt that we’re in a reasonably safe position in the division and they weren’t worth the risk.”

Gallagher’s ears were surely burning as he looked on at the action on Saturday evening. For all of the first-half, they defended in numbers, placing 14 men behind the ball for stretches to frustrate Dublin whose supporters booed Donegal. “I don’t think we’ve gone out overly defensive at all this year,” said Gallagher. “We were quite attacking in a lot of games, but we have to try different things to learn about players and to see how they fit into it.

“We’d Mark Anthony McGinley and Ciaran Gillespie making their debuts today, and we wanted to see how they’d fit into the style of play. We were missing Neil McGee, as well, and Eamonn (McGee) had a wee knock, coming into the game, so there were a couple of things like that which influenced it.”