Ireland in mourning as the timeless Christy Toye retires from Donegal panel

Farewell, thou beautifully-greyed coiffure.

If music and film lovers thought 2016 was a bad year for the loss of some of the greatest artists - and so many of them - what must Donegal fans be thinking of 2017? It must be starting to feel like an exodus now. Since the defeat to Dublin in the 2016 All-Ireland quarter-finals, eight big names have withdrawn from the county panel and only Anthony Thompson remains a slim possibility of maybe playing at all this season. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/818778028725641216 Now, the state of play is grim for Rory Gallagher who recently signed a new long-term agreement to stay in charge of the Donegal setup. For 2017 though, his fresh absence list looks as follows.

• Anthony Thompson
• Christy Toye
• Rory Kavanagh
• David Walsh
• Eamon McGee
• Leo McLoone
• Odhrán Mac Niallais
• Colm McFadden

Huge names, huge honours, huge experience. Not all of them were entirely unexpected. McFadden, Toye and McGee all have serious miles on their body clocks - and they've probably tripled them in the last six years alone. Rory Kavanagh retired in 2014. But he came back out last year. Anthony Thompson has been travelling back and forward to England but he's only 30 and he's still at the peak of his conditioning. Odhrán Mac Niallais and Leo McLoone could've been massive assets this season too - like they have been. They should've been the new leaders going forward but the manager faces a hell of a rebuilding job. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/759731403772788736 Any job that needs to be done though is made more difficult without a veteran like Christy Toye leading the troops. Each of Toye, Kavanagh and Walsh have joined the others on the sidelines but the St. Michael's man, who had been with the county since 2002, is the biggest loss of all given the service he was still offering even as late as last season. Any game Toye played in, he impacted on it. Any player he spoke to, he inspired. He was a leader of men and he was a Donegal man - the best of them. And Christy Toye being Christy Toye - the warrior, the legend - he's gone and left a lot of people heartbroken. And not just Donegal people. https://twitter.com/LaurenHegarty/status/818905179579944960 https://twitter.com/AislingFluich/status/818905145979371521 https://twitter.com/dermotmcglynn/status/818904052167835648 https://twitter.com/EmmyMaher/status/818900002089136128 https://twitter.com/EmmyMaher/status/818897695268028416 https://twitter.com/johnjazzharan/status/818897489143169024 https://twitter.com/briangillep/status/818897263879659521 https://twitter.com/thecailinrua/status/818896523861852160 https://twitter.com/anleithreas/status/818894121444245508 He was a class act. He was a class apart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liyx85ZcKzg