Shaun Patton admits current All-Ireland format is 'intense'

Patton said Donegal "wouldn't be too happy" with their first half performance against Louth. 

Shaun Patton picked up an injury in the Ulster final and missed the first two games of the All-Ireland SFC group stage. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Shaun Patton admitted the gruelling schedule of the current All-Ireland format is ‘intense’ as Donegal reached the quarter-finals following a seventh championship win this season.

Donegal had to go the hard way to win Ulster as they were drawn in the preliminary round, but won all four games to retain the Anglo-Celt Cup.

Patton, who had been a huge weapon for Jim McGuinness’ side, picked up an injury in the final, which saw him miss the first two games of the All-Ireland group stages, a loss to Tyrone and a win over Cavan as Gavin Mulreany deputised.

He was back for the Mayo game as Donegal secured second in the group and a home tie with Louth seven days later, the 2-22 to 0-12 win over the Leinster champions secures a spot in the last eight of the competition, where they will face either Meath or Monaghan next weekend.

“It is an intense schedule,” Patton said after the game.

“For myself, I’m not running the legs off myself like the other boys are, but it’s intense and you can’t afford to be picking up knocks when it’s week on week.

“But that’s the structure of the championship, and there’s no point complaining about it.

“I had a wee break to myself, so I’m feeling quite good and I’m delighted to be back in.

“It’s tough to watch on from the sidelines but Gavin stepped in and, in my opinion, did really well. You look at the Tyrone game and it was a tough game to go into. The game was flat in general from our perspective so I’m delighted to get back in but we have a fantastic goalkeeper in Gavin behind me.” 

On the game itself, Donegal failed to flatter in a first half that still saw them lead by 1-6 to 0-7 but they really got going after the restart and it was job done for the St Eunan’s goalkeeper.

“The whole point of today was getting the result and getting to Croke Park for the quarter-final next week, so we’re happy to get that box ticked.

“Obviously, it’s the performances we’ll have to look at, that first half we wouldn't be too happy with, but the job is done and we’ll go on to next week and get the bodies right from now until then.

“We started reasonably well, but I don’t really know what the cause of it was, whether it was poor shot selection, which cost us at the other end and we can't really let that happen.

“We were happy to get into half-time and we’re happy with the second half performance but moving on we can’t really allow a first half like that to happen.”