Donegal's brilliant full back - Pauric Mc Shea Spent five years as a County Minor At Championship time, it helps to have winners on your side. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Add in a degree of finesse, composure and intelligence and a winning equation is in the bag. Up north, the games are as tough as ever but the other ingredients are there in barrow loads these days. Not that it was all huff and puff in times past in the Red Hand province. There were polished performances on the scene in Ulster before the advent of the ongoing modern-day media hype, before the glossy GAA magazines which proliferate the shop shelves nowadays. Artists and not merely artisans littered the scene in Ulster for more years than Mickey Linden is old. One such artist of the game years ago was Aodh Rua and Donegal stalwart Pauric McShea. Born and reared a Ballyshannon man, the big hearted Ark Life - A.I.B employee amassed an amazing collection of honours over the course of a distinguished football career with club, county and province. Between the late sixties and early seventies the bustling six foot one, thirteen stone plus forward 'cum defender helped himself to eight Senior county Championship medals with the famed Saint Josephs amalgamation side and won two Ulster Senior Championship medals and one Ulster Under 21 Championship medal, three Lagan Cup, one McKenna Cup and one Welbly plus one New York medal. Padraic McShea's last Senior Championship medal was collected in 1975 in the customary company of his team mates drawn from the gaeldom's of Ballyshannon and Bundoran. Times couldn't have been better for the extremely versatile footballing artist from Aodh Rua territory. From the very advent of his teen years, McShea exuded the type of aura and stature that one only comes into contact with in times of special need for discerning spectators, hungry for that extra special excitement in their world. It's ironic that given the rollercoaster success enjoyed by big Pauric in his adult playing days, there were so many kudos lying around uncollected in his youth. As team captain of the Aodh Rua Minor side success was singularly absent but there was plenty of talent around about then to promote much better times in the not so distant future in the Ballyshannon and surrounding area. Would-be household names like Michael McLoone (current Donegal County Council Manager), Seamus Martin Carney joined the aforementioned McShea on the Aodh Rua bandwagon heading skywards via Bundoran. Significantly, messrs McShea, McLoone, Carney and O'Carroll were all going to progress to play in later years with not only their county but province as well. A man who is not likely to undermine the benefits of good coaching and stewardship at underage level, Pauric was the recipient of the best possible football upbringing at the well managed Aodh Rua club and co-conspirator De La Salle College in Ballyshannon. The best training, exemplary discipline and skills tuition afforded him at both club and college wasn't to go to waste. McShea was to emerge as an outstanding underage starlet for Donegal. At De La Salle, Pauric MacShea showed himself up well among the who's who of burgeoning young talent. Even with only one hundred pupils to call on, De La Salle figured prominently on the highly competitive McLarnon Cup scene. And why wouldn't it? Players such as the aforementioned McLoone, Carney and O'Carroll were as good as any of their peers in the country. Football to all of them was a religion and many had the one and only McShea as the High Priest. The work of Brother Raphael and Brother Canice at De La Salle's football nursery was well supplemented on the Aodh Rua club front. Aodh Rua stalwarts like John (dodger) McDermott, Hugh Daly, Jim Gallagher (the Saint Joseph's team boss) and Sean Slevin all made sure of that. But why the decision to amalgamate with neighbours Bundoran given the plethora of talent in Ballyshannon? "I think it came about because Bundoran were struggling a wee bit at the time and we tended to have amalgamations in Donegal at the time which upped the standard of play within the county. In hindsight I tend to believe that the idea of amalgamations and the success achieved by them was a forerunner to our Ulster title win in 1972. I always believed that the amalgamations were a major factor in our success at county level." With the development of towns like Ballyshannon and Bundoran in recent years, the increase in population in those places and an awareness among coaches on the ground that as much football as possible was needed to be provided to as many youngsters went by the wayside and the famed Joes were no more. "Amalgamations suited the time and they upped the standard of play in the county and were as such useful for that purpose alone." A noted golfer and a former captain at the Bundoran club, Pauric McShea first caught the imagination of Donegal's sporting public by lining out for Donegal Minors for five years running in the Ulster Championship. Later in 1965 he was to star in his county's epic first round Senior Championship tie with Cavan, a fixture which extended to three matches. In the second encounter he was marked by Cavan ace defender Gabriel Kelly but still managed to pop up to slot over the equalising point. In the final encounter at Breffini Park, Pauric lined out on the forty but was unable to prevent his side going down by a single point. Such was Pauric McShea's versatility that when injuries struck the Donegal squad in 1972, the then player-manager Brian McEniff called on the Aodh Rua star to provide the team with cover at full-back. And what a baptism of fire in defence it was too! In Donegal's first round clash with Down at Ballybofey. Pauric faced up to none other than living legend Sean O'Neill. True to form, McShea rose to the challenge, held O'Neill to just a single point and catapulted Donegal forward to a provincial final victory over a Frank McGuigan powered Tyrone side. Sadly the Donegal fairytale hadn't a happy ending Offaly proved Donegal's masters in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final. "There's a lot of disappointment concerning our exit out of the All-Ireland Championship in '72. That Donegal team was capable of winning the Sam Maguire Cup. Eight or nine of the team played with Ulster which was a signal honour and recognition so the majority of the players on the team had proven themselves at the highest level so there's no doubt the ability was in the team," explained the man who captained Ulster in '75 and represented his province for five consecutive years. A firm admirer of erstwhile stars such as the aforementioned O'Neill of Down, Frank McGuigan, Colm McAlarney of Down and Cavan's Ray Carolan, Pauric went on to captain the Ulster title winning Donegal team of '74 (they beat Down but later lost to Galway). How does he account for the general renaissance of Ulster football though? "Ulster teams had a bad record for a number of years but the Railway Cup wins by the province in the seventies was a significant factor in stimulating the resurgence of football in Ulster. Having said that I must say that while Ulster teams have won the last four All-Irelands, we're not that far ahead of the posse. The Down win in 1991 gave the other counties the confidence to go for broke and they took their opportunities." Citing the lack of self belief among Ulster counties as the major reason behind their singular lack of success in previous years at All-Ireland level, Pauric, a replacement All-Star in 1973, was not a bit surprised by the Ulster rebellion as sparked by Down three years ago. As a selector with Ulster for the last five years, Pauric has witnessed at first hand the rising confidence of players in the province. "Those who get picked to play for Ulster regard it as special honour and rate it almost above getting an All-Star. I'm afraid though players from the stronger counties down south didn't put it in. Connacht done fairly well and it was great to see Kevin Heffernan and Colm O'Rourke putting a lot of effort into the Leinster end of things this year. Unfortunately when Munster was at its pinnacle, the stronger counties weren't as involved as they should have been." Married to Bregeen (Hyland) and proud father of Gareth, Shane, Darragh, Rhona and Corinne, Pauric McShea would like to see the performances of players in the Railway Cup series taken into account when the selection of All-Stars is being considered. "sub-committee could also be set up to trawl the country for quality sponsorship which could give the competition the boost it needs," he adds. Pauric McShea, a former star footballer and a mine of ideas! Written by the Hogan Stand Magazine 16th Oct 1994 Tweet

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