| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish name | Seán Ó Peatáin | ||
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Born | 1995 (age 29–30) | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Occupation | Full-time professional footballer (former)[1] Retail assistant (former)[2] Garda (current) | ||
| Club | |||
| Years | Club | ||
2018– | St Eunan's | ||
| Club titles | |||
| Donegal titles | 2 | ||
| Inter-county | |||
| Years | County | ||
2018– | Donegal | ||
| Ulster titles | 4 | ||
Shaun Patton (born 1995) is an Irishgoalkeeper who has played in that position in two different sports. A former professionalsoccer player in theLeague of Ireland withDerry City,Finn Harps andSligo Rovers, Patton changed toGaelic football in 2018, playing forSt Eunan's and theDonegal county team.[1] He has won theUlster Senior Football Championship four times with Donegal.
Patton went toprimary school atLurgybrack National School.[3] He attendedSt Eunan's College for his secondary education. Patton played in a MacLarnon Cup Final for the college. He did so while on the books ofFinn Harps, a soccer team.[4] His teammates on an earlier St Eunan's College team (when Patton was 14) included future professional footballerDale Gorman.[5] He also played for theRepublic of Ireland at schoolboy level.[6] He made hisLeague of Ireland debut at the age of 16 before becoming disillusioned with that game at the age of 22 and pursuingGaelic football instead.[1] He did not attend a third-level institution as he was playing full-time football.[1] He joinedDerry City in November 2014 in what was considered a surprise development, though he had lost his position in the Harps team after taking time off to study for hisLeaving Certificate the previous year.[7][8]Michael Murphy employed Patton to work in his shop in Letterkenny.[2] Patton became aGarda in 2020.[9][10] He was posted toNavan, a town inCounty Meath.[11] He is fromLetterkenny.[1]
Upon being reappointed Donegal Gaelic football manager in 2017,Declan Bonner set about trying to recruit Patton.[4] The goalkeeper had never before played a local league or championship game in the sport of Gaelic football, only appearing for St Eunan's in two Ulster club games againstRoslea andOmagh during the2014–15 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship.[4][12][13] At the time of Bonner's request, Patton was negotiating the possibility of joining soccer outfitCork City.[4] He was doing so from a position of having played for one year forSligo Rovers — where he deputised forMicheál Schlingermann when Schlingermann was injured — and had started 12 games for the Sligo soccer outfit in 2017.[1] Patton said at the time:
"I've committed to the Donegal panel for the foreseeable future. I had offers from two [League of Ireland] clubs and I was chatting with some others, but I've decided that the GAA is the best option for me at the moment. Eventually the chance to play for Donegal was going to stop presenting itself. Now is the right time".[1]
Patton won the2021 Donegal Senior Football Championship with his club, scoring one point (from a '45) in the final.[14] He then won the2024 Donegal Senior Football Championship with his club.[15]
Patton began training with Donegal for the first time in January 2018.[1] He had fractured his ankle the previous October while playing for the Sligo soccer team against an outfit fromDrogheda.[1] Under the management of Declan Bonner (second spell),Mark Anthony McGinley was initially the first choice goalkeeper, having been brought in by Bonner's predecessorRory Gallagher. However, during the opening fixture of the2018 National Football League againstKerry, McGinley sustained an injury and second choice goalkeeperPeter Boyle came on as a substitute.[16] Boyle then started againstGalway in the second league fixture,[17] and again started in the third fixture againstDublin (atCroke Park).[18] Then, in the fourth league fixture againstKildare, manager Declan Bonner opted for Patton as Donegal's first choice goalkeeper, prompting Boyle to quit.[19][20][21][22]
Patton continued in goal for the remainder of the season. He made hisUlster Senior Football Championship championship debut from the start againstCavan, and played every minute againstDerry andDown on the way to the final againstFermanagh, which Donegal won.[23][24][25][26] He then played every minute of Donegal's 2018 All-Ireland challenge, making hisCroke Park debut againstDublin in the quarter-final group stage on 14 July 2018, only for Donegal's challenge to come undone against eventual finalistsTyrone.[27][28][29]
Patton started the opening game of theNational Football League,[30] before briefly alternating with McGinley,[31][32][33] until taking over completely as Donegal's first choice goalkeeper when McGinley withdrew from consideration in March due to his reluctance to commit in the competition against Patton.[34][35][36][37][38]
Patton won his second Ulster Senior Football Championship later that year, again completing every minute of play.[39][40][41] He did so while competing againstPaul Durcan (regarded as having the sport's closest ability in the goalkeeping position toStephen Cluxton); Durcan had availed of McGinley's departure to seek a return to Donegal.[4][42]
Patton's short and long range kick-outs, as well as his and shot-stopping abilities, have garnered him comparisons withPaul Durcan[6] andStephen Cluxton.[43][44][45] His kicks have been likened to "laser darts".[43][46] RTÉ noted as early as the2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship victory over Derry that "Patton's long, accurate kick-outs were highly effective in setting Donegal back on the attack".[24] His ability at saving was also on display against Down in the following match, when he used a trailing right boot to prevent a goal from aDonal O'Hare shot.[25] In the next game, the final, Patton showed his saving ability again.[26]
I have my Leaving Cert but I didn't go to college because I was playing football full-time. At the moment I'm thinking of going back to college or applying for the guards and getting myself a stable job… I loved the year in Sligo and I really like the manager.
Special guest and past pupil Shaun Patton, goalkeeper for Donegal, was in attendance.
City boss Peter Hutton has also signed keeper Shaun Patton from Finn Harps as back-up to number one Gerard Doherty.
Boyle quit the panel after the match against Kildare in Ballyshannon after former Sligo Rovers 'keeper Shaun Patton replaced him for that match.
Patton
Patton
Patton
In March, McGinley withdrew from the Donegal senior football squad… McGinley was on the Donegal panel from then until he pulled out due to limited game time in March.
They have a keeper whose kick-outs are Cluxton-esque. He's been brilliant in all the games. His kicks are like laser darts and they always seem to favour the Donegal man. He regularly goes long and Donegal win most of them.
Is Shaun Patton best-placed to succeed Stephen Cluxton as the game's most influential goalkeeper?
Tomorrow, Kerry's focus on Shaun Patton will need to be 'Cluxtonesque'.
…he delivered one of his best darts yesterday.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Donegal Number One Goalkeeper 2018– | Succeeded by Incumbent |