Paddy McBrearty always passionate about the Donegal cause

Paddy McBrearty was part of a Donegal delegation that visited Jim McGuinness house when a new manager was required.

The end goal and hope was trying to convince McGuinness to return as Donegal's boss. "Didn't really know what to expect to be honest," McBrearty reflects.

"We knew Jim was either going to welcome us with two arms or there was going to be another response. When you door-step someone, if it was me, I probably would have told him to clear."

Early on in the process, though, McBrearty was encouraged. For one simple reason. McGuinness didn't refuse initially. "We hadn't seen each other in a long time and had a good chat about things," McBrearty recalls.

"Obviously, where Donegal football was at and stuff, but he never said no basically. Which kept the thing alive. Obviously, if he said no, that would have been fine. It wasn't just one conversation, there was a few conversations obviously and kept the pressure on. Thankfully, he did come back, because God knows where the whole thing would be at the minute if he didn't decide to come back."

For McBrearty, it was vital to keep the discussions going with McGuinness, but very few knew what was happening behind the scenes. "There are a lot of leaks around Donegal all the time and you're trying to keep it as tight as possible to be honest," McBrearty remarks.

"I'd say three people did know really at the time. You tried to keep it amongst those kind of people that you trusted basically. You knew that it wouldn't get out and it didn't really get out until a few days before he was coming back.

"Obviously, there was a lot of conversations that happened over a period of weeks. There were a lot of days where I thought he wouldn't come back and then there were days where I thought he'd come back.

"Thankfully, he's back now and we are where we are. He never said no, which was a massive positive to me. I stayed on it anyway and I could see that he was thinking about it. When he didn't say no it was an indication to keep going for it and thankfully he did."

The perseverance mattered. McBrearty had inherited the captaincy from Michael Murphy, but Donegal were enduring difficult days. "You're taking it home from Michael and Michael retires," McBrearty says.

"I think you'd been in six of the last seven Ulster finals and then you're beaten in the first round of Ulster. You take it a bit more personally. Are you doing the right things with the group? You take it to heart that it's maybe your fault."

A couple of years later, McBrearty is heartened that the Donegal players' remain close. "The group did really well, they stuck together because it was tough times and obviously we had big decisions to make," he adds.

"The group was ambitious. We knew we had a good squad. There were a lot of players not in the squad that were around the county at the time. We knew if we could get them boys back.

"I think in 2023 as well there were a lot of injuries. I think there were eight or nine I think there were seven or eight of the players who played in the Ulster final against Derry and '22 weren't available for '23.

"That's a big blow to any team. We were aware of that, but obviously when you win one league game and one championship game and the success we got in the years previous it wasn't good enough. We reset and we got back training early and obviously Jim coming back got the ball rolling."

In the 2025 Championship, McBrearty has been used as an impact player, arriving into matches to influence them late on. "I think every player wants to start, but obviously you've got to see the bigger picture," McBrearty says.

"Worked well for Armagh last year. Stefan Campbell, he's the main one obviously. Everyone knows about Stefan Campbell coming in. Armagh's squad probably won them the All-Ireland last year. There's really, really good players in the Donegal set-up. Can't get into the 26, never mind the first 15.

"There's massive, massive competition for places. I'm up against Oisín, Michael and Conor O’Donnell. It's tough for positions there at the minute. I know my role, I have my role when I come in. The other boys as well, Caolan McGonagle, Jason McGee, Odhrán McFadden Ferry come in the last day. Dáíre Ó Baoill can't get in.

"That's what I think is really, really good about this group. They're willing to see the bigger picture, when you have this phenomenal impact."

In 2012, McBrearty was the talented teenager, emerging as a key player. More than a decade later, the Kilcar clubman's passion for Donegal is as strong as ever.