Paddy McGrath (born 2 February 1989) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Ard an Rátha and also, formerly, for the Donegal county team.
McGrath, along with clubmates Conor Classon and Peter McNelis,[5] was part of the Donegal under-21 squad which qualified for the 2010 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship final, losing out to Dublin.
[2] It was a substitute appearance against Down, who had Brendan Coulter score a vital goal to win the 2010 Ulster Senior Football Championship match in spite of the efforts of McGrath and others.
[3] Shortly afterwards, McGrath made his first start against Armagh in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qualifier defeat in Crossmaglen, lasting hardly a quarter of an hour before being substituted when Donegal conceded two early goals.
[11] Around the same time, McGrath turned down an opportunity to become a full-time assistant site manager in the English city of Liverpool so that he could continue to play football.
[23] That first senior inter-county medal was repeated in 2019 when McGrath won the National Football League Division 2 title with Donegal for a second time, twice more than Diver ever did.
[25] However, McGrath's 2019 season ended at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage against Mayo in Castlebar when he sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury, necessitating a prolonged spell out of the game.
[21] He had only returned to playing for Donegal in the same game, having sustained an earlier injury to his ankle following the final of the 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship.
[22] In January 2020, local media reported that McGrath was intending to make his return for the 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship match against Tyrone.
[29] A 2015 survey — conducted among U.S. women with little or no knowledge of Gaelic games — ranked McGrath in the top fifteen sexiest GAA players, third in Ulster and second in Donegal (after Patrick McBrearty).