Paddy Carr Interview: 'All I want and ever wanted was what was best for Donegal'

It was a dull October night in Convoy in 2022, but the beaming light of positivity coming from the face of Paddy Carr seemed brighter than the glow coming from Fanad Lighthouse where he was born, as the former Louth boss was announced as the new manager that would guide Donegal into the future. 

There were euphoric celebrations in the rain in late January 2023 as Donegal opened their league campaign with a victory over Kerry.  

Carr and his team were the talk on everybody’s lips as the manager announced that the win that day “was for the people of Donegal”. It seemed like a team that has come of age, until it all went wrong. 

Five months into his tenure, sitting at the bottom of Division 1 after only a single league win, and after a discussion with some senior Donegal players, 149 days after his appointment, Carr resigned from his position leaving just another mark on what was already turning into a ‘annus horribilis’ in the county. 

The job he announced in October 2022 as his ‘dream job’, had come to an end. 

Under the guidance of assistant manager Aidan O’Rourke, the senior side would crash out in the first round of the Ulster championship to Down – the first time such an event had occurred since 2010 – before eventually being eliminated from the All-Ireland championship by Tyrone in MacCumhaill Park. 

It’s now been 367 days since that preliminary quarter-final elimination at the hands of the Red County – it was a day where many wondered where the county was going from here. Sitting at an all-time low, the only way was up. 

And now, with Jim McGuinness back on board and with the team returning to their first official quarter-final since 2016, it’s amazing what a difference a year can make. 

With Louth posing as the opposition this Sunday in Croke Park, Carr admits it’ll be a fixture rather close to his heart. A Donegal native, living most of his adult life in Louth, and having managed both counties during his coaching life, for him, it’s the perfect coming together. 

“There’s no doubt that Donegal will be going into this match as favourites and that tag is well earned by Donegal. I think it’s been a really healthy thing to see that everything we were yearning for last year in the county, in terms of getting everything aligned and getting people working together, that that’s now the case,” Carr told Donegal Live. 

“That positivity gives great wind in the sails for Jim and the team, and you can see the momentum that there has been this year, it’s evident with the team winning such tight games this year in Ulster, so I think the county is in a healthy position which is brilliant considering the county has had gloomier days in recent times which I know of, so it’s great to see everyone getting behind the team. 

“That support is a key ingredient to success and you add that to a wonderful management team, there’s no surprise that they’re going to Croke Park and going in there with an opportunity to get to a semi-final for the first time since 2014.” 

The former county manager, who most recently had a managerial role with Louth club St Kevin’s, admits that a crucial part to Donegal’s recent success, or any county’s success is for everyone directly involved in the GAA in that area to be singing off the same hymn sheet.  

He acknowledges that those conditions are now in place for Jim McGuinness – but they weren’t there during his troubled five-month tenure. And while he admits it was hard to ignore the outside noise in the county at the time, he says he wouldn’t have changed anything with regards to his own application or the work effort of the players. 

“The thing about Donegal is, the talent was always there, even last year and before that. They are a team with great desire and an application to be successful,” Carr said. 

“I spoke about the county getting their house in order and I used the word ‘aligned’, that’s what Donegal have done this year, and if you go back over the history of the GAA, every team that has dominated different eras like Kerry or Dublin, one of the hallmarks of their success was that they had structures in place behind the scenes that made that success happen. 

“For the senior team now, because everything is in place, they are not worrying about outside noises or distractions, they only have to focus on the team and the games, and that’s the way it should be and I’m delighted to see that for the lads. 

“There were a lot of things going on in the county that were outside our control and outside the players’ control last year, that was the truth, where now everyone is facing in the one direction, everything is positive and the county has serious momentum which ultimately builds confidence.” 

It’s been over 21 years since Carr last managed the Wee County at inter-county level. Before that and since then, he has seen the highs and lows of Louth football but feels that there is now a belief in the county which was started by Mickey Harte and has continued under Ger Brennan that they can go on to do great things. 

“I’ve lived so much of my life in this part of the world, my first teaching job was in Drogheda, and I’ve been involved in football for so long down here, so I know what GAA means to the people of Louth,” Carr said.  

“There’s a real substantial change in Louth football over the past few years. That was evident when Mickey Harte came in, he showed belief in the team and players that were starved of success. 

“In the past, Louth would’ve been a side full of potential but failed to see out big games, I think that changed once Mickey came in and they’ve even gone to another level this season under Ger Brennan, so I don’t think anyone should underestimate this team and the knowledge of their management. 

“Ger and Niall Moyna bring a solidity in the team’s mindset now. Those two men have been instilled in St Vincent’s and DCU GAA, which has been at the fulcrum of Dublin’s success, and that well of knowledge has now been carried into the Louth dressing room.” 

But with regards to the county team he’s most recently managed, Carr finds it hard to see past a Donegal win, admitting McGuinness’s side might have too much firepower all around the field, while admitting that the side would’ve taken a lot of learnings from their defeat to Cork in the group stage, saying that their complacency that day will not happen again. 

“I think losing to Cork showed Donegal that there’s no room for complacency at this level because you can trip up very easily, but overall, going off the evidence before us, we know how dominant Donegal are all around the field,” he admitted. 

“Louth will make it difficult for them, but I think Donegal will just be a step ahead, it’s a game I’m really looking forward to. I’m going with my 92-year-old father to the game. I can’t predict what will happen on Sunday, but what I can say is that there was a smile in me when I saw Louth pitted against Donegal because of my grá for both places.” 

He’s never fully spoken openly about his tenure as Donegal boss and the true ins and outs that went on behind the scene, but his narrative as a whole, since the day he left has never changed. 

“All I want and all I wanted was what was best for Donegal, that will never change, it’s as simple as that,” said Carr.  

“I was up there all week, and the buzz around the place is brilliant. It’s a county that is just football-mad. I was up in Fanad last weekend when the Donegal Rally was on and there were more people chatting about football than the rally itself, that was brilliant.”