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

Shaun Patton admits the gruelling schedule of the current All-Ireland format is ‘intense’ as Donegal reach 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.

And Patton, who has 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 in a loss to Tyrone and a win over Cavan as Gavin Mulreany deputised.

Back for the Mayo game last weekend 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 but I’m delighted to get back in."

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 had eight shots at goal fail to result in points in that first half.

However, they really got going after the restart and it was a case of 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.

“We’ll get back to the training ground this weekend, get the bodies right and get working towards next week.”

It’ll be another day out in Croke Park for Donegal, who haven’t played their since their All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway eleven months ago.

And with either Meath or Monaghan lying in wait, Patton is expecting another real test regardless of who they draw tomorrow.

“It’s massive and that’s the whole point of playing for your county, you want to get into the business end of the season. It’s huge to get an opportunity to play at Croke Park where everybody wants to play.

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“Thankfully we’re there but we have a lot of work to do this weekend, and we’ll figure out who we’re playing tomorrow.

“It’s what happens when you get to the business end of the season, Louth put it up to us in the first half, and there is no such thing as an easy game. The scoreline mightn’t reflect the intensity of that first half, but to get back to Croke Park is huge and we have a lot of work to do if we want to keep going.”