Donegal will not lack for motivation when they meet Mayo in the first round of the NFL in Ballybofey at the end of January.
That’s the firm verdict of Donegal boss Declan Bonner as he looks forward to starting next season in Division One.
He also revealed that he has spoken to Odhran MacNiallais and is very hopeful that veterans Neil McGee and Frank McGlynn will give it another go.
And, the feisty 54-year-old added that playing with his beloved Na Rossa is “everything to me” after he pulled off a stunning double save to help his club oust hotly-fancied Urris in a thrilling Donegal Junior Football Championship quarter-final which went to extra time at the weekend.
Bonner was in goals and that late double save was “Cluxtonesque”.
The Tir Conaill manager said he was looking forward to operating at a higher level this season and first up is Mayo in Ballybofey at the end of January.
“We have four home games and it is not just a case of saying we need to win all our home games, as we will be taking every game as it comes on its own merits.
“And we certainly have a good opener with Mayo coming to Ballybofey,'' declared Bonner.
“That is one match we certainly won’t need any motivation for.
“There is hurt from our last game in the Super 8’s and the way our season ended on a most disappointing note.
“So in a way you could not ask for a better start to the season.
“Mayo are still a formidable force and we will need to be on our game to win, but Division One is always where you want to be.”
But Donegal then have Meath (away), Galway (home), Dublin (away), Monaghan (home), Tyrone (home) and Kerry (away) as they make the big step up.
“There will be no easy games in this Division, but it is a great learning curve for our younger players as we head into a new season after winning back to back Ulster titles and promotion back to the top-flight which we targeted,'' added Bonner.
“It is important to get off to a good start and players are already in the gym and we will be getting back together as a group when the club championships are over.
“This year has flown and we have some big games and we have Dublin and Kerry away.
“There has been a lot of changes in other counties and we have built over the past few years.
“We are looking to blood new players and our first target is to get the two points against Mayo and we will take it from there.”
Bonner confirmed that he has already spoken to Odhran MacNiallais ahead of this year’s campaign.
And he said he was “very hopeful” that veterans Neil McGee and Frank McGlynn will soldier on for another year at least: “Yes they are great servants of the county and I would hope they will be back for 2020.''
Meanwhile Bonner had a wide grin when asked what he was thinking just before that great double save in Convoy: “I was thinking, at 54 I don’t need this!
“Lucky enough I got a hand to it but this is a great victory for us as we are a very small club and have lost a few teams to emigration.
“There are four lads that should be coming back next week and we are into the semi-finals and we never expected this at all.”
Bonner first lined out for his beloved Na Rossa first as a 14-year-old in 1977.
“We won a Junior Championship back in 1982 and I was 16 and my three brothers, Sean Michael and Donal were also on that team,'' he recalled.
‘We played all our underage football with Rosses Rovers and then we formed our own club and we got a lot of families moving back to Leitir in the late 1980s and early 1990 and we had two senior teams.
“Back in 1989 I was player manager of the senior team that won the Intermediate Championship and was in the States in 1988 and I was just 23.
“We won the Intermediate again in 1999 and I was playing as well as continuing as Donegal senior manager.”
So what drives him?
“It is for the love of the game, for the pride of the parish and it is just great to pull on the jersey and I am also chairman of the club for the past six years,' he states.
“But we have lost so many families since the downturn and we have around two teams abroad.
“But we have some good players and Aidan McHugh played soccer for Keadue early on today.
“We are trying to open a new pitch next year and it is a matter of keeping the club going.
“And we have no underage teams but we will battle on to compete.”
As ever.
