Elder statesmen of Donegal must give way to youth

‘The best days for McFadden and Gallagher are over, but what days they had’

WE’RE told that the elder gentlemen on the Donegal team are going to take their time before deciding on retirement, and a good life without regret or very much recrimination of any kind. And sometimes that’s a good idea. Though, personally, I think it’s just as smart to wipe your hands of a football career minutes after it has ended. Why wait? Why think it through for a few months when you already know in your heart that you have given your all — as Colm McFadden and Neil Gallagher, for starters, surely know? Both men, over the course of the last five stunning years, have switched from being giants of the game in their own county, to become giants of the game in every home and parish in Ireland. There are other members of the team who might also have been wise to make a clean break shortly after their eight-point defeat by Mayo. But McFadden (below) and Gallagher stand out. They should look at what they have achieved — and they should look back on last Sunday. McFadden should look at Aidan O’Shea and Cillian O’Connor, while Gallagher should look at Séamie O’Shea, Tom Parsons and Barry Moran. It’s a younger man’s game more than ever before. And a team that is hungry and young, and highly organised are always going to have too much neediness, and too much raw energy, for this Donegal team. The best days for McFadden and Gallagher are over, but what days. On the debit side, there was the defeat by Mayo last Sunday and the horror of losing to the same team at the same stage by 16 points two years ago. There was also the pain of partly handing an All-Ireland title to Kerry. Then, of course, the losses to Monaghan in the Ulster finals in 2013 and this year were personal. That’s five bad days. Imagine: only five bad days in five years of incredible achievement. An All-Ireland title, three Ulster crowns, days when their mightiest of neighbours Tyrone were cast aside. Days, too, when those big, bad bullies from Armagh were finally thrown onto their backs. The good days over the last five years double and treble the bad days in their number. That’s why McFadden and Gallagher should have no trouble in thinking the ‘R’ word. And issuing it soon. Without them, in the immediate future, Donegal might be in some trouble, certainly. McFadden, even last weekend, was still sublime on the ball. Likewise, Gallagher looks every bit as athletic now as he did when Jim McGuinness beat him into a new shape in 2011. However, while the Donegal team might miss the two of them initially, and perhaps through another full season, the likelihood is that their continued presence on the team will do greater damage in the long term. The pair have done it all. It’s more important the team they helped build continues to do it for many more years.