Shaun Patton: From professional football to a century of Donegal appearances

Shaun Patton is in line for his 100th Donegal cap in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final with Meath, and it’s something that very few would have foresaw when the star goalkeeper was growing up.

Playing for Finn Harps, Derry City, and Sligo Rovers in the League of Ireland in his teens, soccer was the main sport for the Letterkenny man.

Patton had a surprising and late entry into the Gaelic football world, not playing for his club until November 2014, when he was 19 years old.

He had played in the MacLarnon Cup for his St Eunan’s College side, as they won the title that same year in an All-Donegal clash, defeating the Colaisti Inis Eoghain amalgamation.

Fellow county and clubmate Niall O’Donnell was part of the St Eunan’s College team, while Caolan McGonagle was in midfield for their opponents in the game in the Athletic Grounds, which ended 1-7 to 1-5 for the Letterkenny College.

In that team, the players were listed with their local GAA club name beside, with Patton’s club listed as Finn Harps.

Later that year, he made a debut for St Eunan’s in their Ulster Senior Championship run as they beat Roslea Shamrocks before losing out to Omagh St Enda’s in the semi-final, where he was spotted by Declan Bonner, who would try eventually call him up to the Donegal senior squad when he returned in 2018.

“I had watched them when I was Under-21 manager and Shaun had played very little Gaelic football,” Bonner told DonegalLive.

“He was on a pro contract at Derry City and Sligo Rovers but I had watched him in Healy Park for St Eunan’s in a club championship match.

“I thought his kicking and the trajectory of his kicks were just so different.

“When I got the (senior) job, Mark Anthony McGinley was the number one and Peter Boyle was in at the same time, and I was just looking around for some competition for places in the squad.

“I rang Shaun and when I spoke to him first, he had played a number of games for the Sligo Rovers first team but he had picked up an ankle injury.

“I told him to come over to Convoy and he was still in a boot, but he was unsure of his next move as it was coming to the end of the season.

“John Caulfield was the manager of Cork City at the time and they were looking for him.

“But I managed to convince him to come into the county set up and ultimately that was it.

“Once he came in, he was totally professional and I could see that from day one.

“He worked really hard under Andrew McGovern, who was the goalkeeping coach for the first number of years, then James Gallagher came in after that in 2020, and he’s back in under Jim McGuinness, so he would have a good relationship with Shaun too.

“He was a really consistent striker of the ball, and I do think there is nobody better in the game in terms of that 70-yard kick and how he can get it away so quickly.

“He had to learn everything but he was so willing to listen and learn and go through videos.

“Shaun would have been the first guy on the pitch and the last one to leave the pitch, which showed the professional attitude that he brought.”

Patton’s first game came against Monaghan in the second group game of the McKenna Cup, after Aodh Ruadh’s Peter Boyle started the opening game against Queen’s University.

The goalkeeper did give away two penalties in the contest, but he still managed to keep a clean sheet, with Jack McCarron blazing wide before he saved Micheál Bannigan’s penalty.

It wasn’t the first time that Patton pulled off penalty heroics on his debut, doing so in his professional debut for Finn Harps in 2012 at the tender age of 16.

Coming on to replace the concussed Ciaran Gallagher on 25 minutes, Patton was on his way to a clean sheet when former Republic of Ireland striker Sean Maguire went down in the box and a penalty was awarded.

However, the teenager saved from Gary Dempsey to ensure the Finn Park men would come home from the RSC with the three points.

He had to wait a couple of games for another Donegal appearance after that win over Monaghan, as Mark Anthony McGinley played the final group game and the semi-final, but Patton came back in as they won the final against Tyrone.

It wasn’t until round four of the Division 1 campaign that he made his league debut, but he played the final four games as Donegal were relegated. But he retained his place for the Ulster championship and Super 8s as Donegal won the Anglo-Celt Cup.

It wasn’t long until the number one spot was cemented down, and he became a massive part of Declan Bonner’s side.

“Mark Anthony picked up an injury in the first league game against Kerry, so Shaun’s chance came very quickly and once he got in there, he established himself very quickly.

“He was a quick learner and he adjusted very quickly to the game.

“The game itself was changing around him and the goalkeeper position was becoming really important and it has become even more important now.

“Shaun’s strengths came through then because he is a proper goalkeeper first and foremost, but his kicking was way ahead and that was what made him stand out as a top-three goalkeeper in the country over the last six years.

“We had big guys in the middle of the park that we could go long to with the likes of Michael Murphy, Michael Langan, Caolan McGonagle and Hugh McFadden, Ciaran Thompson, and Jason McGee in and around there and they were serious targets for Shaun, and no better man to pick them out than him.”

It was a brave decision for the Inishowen-based Garda to switch codes, but four Ulster titles later, along with two Division Two medals and a number of trips to Croke Park, it has proved fruitful.

Further penalty heroics followed in the 2024 Ulster final as he saved a penalty from Shane McPartland in sudden death against Armagh.

Previously based in Navan, it’s the Royals that he faces this weekend as he looks to hit the century in Sunday’s semi-final at 4pm in Croke Park.

“He’s a great addition, and Donegal have had some great goalkeepers down through the years, but he would be right up there as one of the top goalkeepers,” Bonner added.

“He had offers on the table and had been on a professional contract with Sligo, and there was an offer on the table from Cork, so it took a number of conversations to get him in, but he had that security where he was going to get the opportunity to nail down that number one jersey.

“It was a risk for us, too, but sometimes you have to back your own judgment on it.

“For myself, having watched him play the years before, I felt that he could be a serious goalkeeper.

“We knew there was work that had to be done, obviously when you’re playing soccer at a professional level for five years and coming into a different game, but he had the mental side of it and once you met him, you could tell he wanted to be the number one keeper in the country and that’s why he’s up there now.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s almost 100 games down the line since he made his debut.

“It doesn’t seem like that long ago since I met up with him and asked to see if he would throw in his lot with the county.

“It’s great to see him get to his 100th game, and what an occasion it could be to play that game and hopefully get his team into an All-Ireland final, what a massive achievement it would be.

“He was there all throughout and winning back-to-back Ulster titles early on probably cemented the fact to himself that he had made the right decision.

“He’s one of the most important players on the pitch now, and we’re very lucky to have somebody of the calibre of Shaun Patton.”