As someone who has played this game on controller from the start, with my first class being Gladiator, and still using it to this day, never had an issue with PLD on controller. If you are struggling to properly weave your oGCDs into your magic phase, then it sounds like you either need to practice, or, you need to rethink your hotbar layout.

For the record, at the moment, and it has been this way since the start of ShB, I have Requiescat, CoS and Spriits on L2 X, Square and Triangle. Holy Spirit and Confiteor are on the expanded R2 -> L2 X and Square. Never had an issue with lining anything up or not properly fingering my buttons.