Donegal to wait until last moment on Shaun Patton decision  

Jim McGuinness says Donegal will wait right up until the last moment before making a decision on Shaun Patton’s availability for Sunday’s All-Ireland series tangle away to Cavan.

The St Eunan’s man missed Saturday’s group opener loss to Tyrone in MacCumhaill Park, having picked up an ankle injury in the side’s Ulster SFC final win over Armagh. 

And while Patton did take part in the warm-up prior to action at the weekend, McGuinness didn’t risk any further setback there as Gavin Mulreany deputised between the posts. 

Asked after on the chances of his first-choice goalkeeper being available in Kingspan Breffni Park, McGuinness admitted it’s a call he’ll leave as late as possible in the run-in to Sunday. 

“I don't know -  I really don't know at this moment. There's a possibility that he will be back but

we'll have to see how he goes during the weekend”.

In Patton’s absence, Tyrone turned the screw on the Donegal kickout, particularly late on, edging matters around the middle third and, in turn, winning the game. 

But at that stage Donegal were operating without the likes of Caolan McGonagle and Hugh McFadden who both left the field of play with injuries. 

In the absence of Jadon McGee, Michael Murphy became a lone outlet really, and Tyrone, McGuinness explained, were quick to suss that out. 

“The bodies, the movement wasn't there, the bodies were tired but that's not an excuse as well. Tyrone, there was blood in the water and they sensed that and they pushed more and more players on. 

“When you're in that situation, I'm not going to criticise Gavin, definitely not. But that was a big game to step into and when the pressure really comes on, it's not easy. 

“But at the same time, we could have done more as well. We could have done more to move for him and make easier options for him. But that's all things we'll have to go back and look at”.

McGonagle, who only recently returned from a troublesome ankle injury in the Ulster final,  left the field of play just before half-time and McGuinness is keeping his fingers crossed that there hasn’t been a recurrence there. 

“It's a bit of a weird one and then he thought the tape around his ankle was too tight and then we cut the tape off and then he was okay and then it came back again. 

“So I don't know, I genuinely don't know. We'll have to try and scan him now and get to the bottom of that to see what it is”.

McGuinness and Luke Barrett were interested spectators a fortnight ago as Cavan went to McHale Park and upset the odds to get their group stage campaign off to a flying start. 

Bhoyed by that result, McGuinness says the Breffni men will be looking to raise even more eyebrows when they host Donegal at the weekend. 

“We were at the Cavan game against Mayo and they played with a serious edge from the first minute to the last minute, they played with a serious edge.

“When the ball was in the air and it was 50-50, they were really strong, really physical and then when they did win it, they were breaking really quickly and they put Mayo on the back foot on numerous occasions. 

“So they'll be looking at that tonight as well and they'll be taking positives from that as well and they'll be looking forward to us coming and if they can get a result, they're in an amazing position. 

“We've seen that with the game last weekend, with the Mayo game, the way it made life difficult for them. We're in the same boat now”.