The Magherafelt man has been given licence to roam, particularly to the middle sector on opposition kick-outs, under Rory Gallagher and now Mickey Harte, but that tactic was badly exposed at Celtic Park as three of Donegal’s four goals in their Ulster win came with the goalkeeper caught away from home.
Saturday’s collection of errors weren’t the first examples of Lynch’s adventurous spirit leading to trouble.
In the 2022 All-Ireland semi-final and with Derry searching for a way back into the contest against Galway, he was on the opposition 'D’ when Conor Glass was turned over. Two passes later and Damien Comer hit into an empty net to secure the Tribe a final spot.
Even in this year’s league against Roscommon, he opted to engage a long ball in between the 14 and 21-metre lines before the hard Celtic Park turf saw it bounce over his head giving Donie Smith a free goal to punch home too.
But for that risk, there has equally been reward with Lynch’s extra body out the field giving Derry an overload that has kick-started numerous attacking probes and defensively provided a gap-filler when teams try to target areas for restarts.
The refinement of his exertions up the pitch were crucial to Derry’s 2023 run where they came agonisingly close to beating Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final as well as their fantastic Division 1 campaign this season.
The 2023 Ulster semi-final was an example of the potential bonus.
Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan aimed a kick-out into the path of Dessie Ward but Lynch showed great anticipation to steal in and slap it away for Padraig McGrogan to collect. The Oakleaf defender quickly transferred the ball back to Lynch, who had continued his run forward, and as he cut in from the right flank he curled over a beautiful point. He had scored in the previous round against Fermanagh too.
With the debate set to rumble on, McGinley doesn’t expect to see a new defined goalkeeper role from Harte’s side when they emerge for the All-Ireland series in a few weeks’ time.
"I think it’s a tactic they feel they have benefited from and I don’t think it’s for the trash bin, but I think the risk v benefit calculation and the mitigation....the Plan B, whenever Plan A hasn’t worked out, the Plan B operation will be much slicker than it was against Donegal.
"It wasn’t just the position of the goalkeeper, it was a general [malaise], the players were reacting so slowly and in second gear compared to Donegal’s reaction on break balls.
"I think that’s just a hangover from a phenomenal league campaign, a phenomenal league final, I think a small element of complacency against a good team well set up.
"And, look, Donegal’s goals came at just the perfect time. Each one came absolutely perfectly to keep rocking Derry back on the heels."
Adding to that, the three-time All-Ireland winner said that he could pin-point mistakes – such as Lynch’s fumble for Daire Ó Baoill’s second goal – as areas that could be tidied up to smooth out the tactic.
"Odhran Lynch should have got that one over his head in towards the Brandywell end; he had it in his hand then it came down and hit off his knee. Even if that hadn’t gone in, I think Derry could have built up enough momentum.
"Mickey Harte’s long enough about, he can’t turn that into anything other than a bad loss, but he will certainly try and paint it as not a terminal defeat, and I don’t think it is."
"For the kick-out that Odhran Lynch went up and competed against Jason McGee, the two midfielders [Brendan Rogers and Glass] weren’t even there," he also said.
"It was a really bad day at the office for Derry."
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