Born in the shadows of Fanad lighthouse, Paddy Carr hopes to shine a new beam on Donegal football. Carr was appointed as the new Donegal manager on Monday night, ending a long search for a successor to Declan Bonner. Former Armagh footballer Aidan O’Rourke will be the new head coach.
Carr, who spent most of his youth outside of Donegal, has given up his role as the principal of Colaiste na Mí in Navan to focus on his new role.
“I know I don’t have the usual accent you would hear at Fanad Head, but I just love Donegal,” said Carr, who played briefly for Donegal in the 1980s. “Wearing that jersey was the proudest thing I ever did and that never left me. I will do everything in my power to facilitate the Donegal senior football team becoming the best version of itself imaginable.
“We are very well aware of the responsibilities that come with this position. I will give my body, soul, heart and mind to the cause of Donegal football.”
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Just three days after the Donegal GAA Training Centre in Convoy was officially opened on Friday amid much fanfare, another new era dawned in Donegal. The ascension of Carr and O’Rourke came 97 days after Bonner sat in the same room to announce his resignation from the role in front of the same delegates. Bonner called time after five years, during which time he won two Ulster SFC crowns.
“Declan is a hero of mine,” Carr said. “He is a legend after what he gave to Donegal football.”
Carr played club football with Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin and Walterstown in Meath, and in 2009 he led the Crokes to an All-Ireland senior club title.
O’Rourke and Carr – who both had stints as Louth manager – were nominated separately for the job before pooling their resources.
Carr said: “Aidan and I go back a bit, and we would have mutual friends. There has to be a meeting of minds, and when it became apparent we were both involved in the process we had to work as one mind. We have our expectations. We believe there is enormous potential. We wouldn’t put ourselves in this position unless we felt that we could drive it forward.”
The appointment is for an initial two-year term, although the agreement will be reviewed after the 2023 Championship.
O’Rourke, who works as the performance sport manager at Queen’s University, Belfast, was previously on backroom teams in Kildare, Armagh and Down.
The 2002 All-Ireland winner said: “The year ahead is about maximising. That is the total focus. This isn’t about reshaping or anything like that. It’s about finding the small percentage points as best we can. It is a pretty exciting prospect. It’s easy to have ideas from afar, but that doesn’t reflect reality in a lot of cases.”
Jim McGuinness was among those spoken to by Donegal GAA chiefs in recent weeks. Martin McHugh, Karl Lacey, Sean Paul Barrett and Rory Kavanagh, who was seen as the front-runner until last week, were also spoken to about the role.
