Former Dublin star Ciaran Whelan says Paddy Carr “was going into a difficult scenario” by taking on the Donegal senior manager’s job.

Carr resigned from his post on Wednesday after just five months in the job, with his team now facing the likely prospect of relegation from Division 1 of the Allianz Football League this Sunday.

Speaking on the RTE GAA podcast this week, Whelan said that the former Kilmacud Crokes and Louth boss had a lot of challenges thrown his way during his stint in charge.

"The court of public opinion was against the management team," said the former Dublin midfielder. 

"Paddy Carr is a gentleman and I always felt in some ways he was too nice for the job and was going into a difficult scenario. There are numerous issues in Donegal, but when there is a bad vibe around the county it doesn't take long for that to start encroaching into the dressing room.

"When there's a lot of flak coming from various directions within a county it can seep in to that dressing room room very, very easily. I think there has been a bit of collateral damage in Donegal.

"The vibe in Donegal; the atmosphere has been pretty toxic for the last six to eight weeks. Combine that with a couple of relatively poor performances and then missing the likes of Paddy McBrearty and Ryan McHugh.

"They were struggling to find an offensive plan; playing Hugh McFadden on the edge of the square didn't work, he didn't look comfortable. It was a case of patching things up. A lot of challenges thrown in his [Carr's] direction."

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