Donegal senior hurling team manager Mickey McCann has confirmed that he will be guiding the fortunes of the team for his sixth year.
The Burt man has been in charge since 2018 and has been ratified for another year by the county boar -after a successful season in 2023.
The long haul began on Tuesday night in Convoy when his senior squad began training for the 2024 campaign.
McCann took Donegal to a first ever Conor McGurk Cup, a Division 2B final and a Nickey Rackard Cup final in the past 12months.
Speaking after his position was rubber-stamped McCann said he and his management team had met with the county board who were “pleased with how things went.’
“They asked us to stay on and we have decided to give it another go this year.”
He added that hurling in Donegal was on a high at present: “We had two teams in Ulster finals, St Eunan’s narrowly lost the junior final to Castleblayney while Setanta had a great win over Carrickmore.
“That is a huge boost for hurling in the county and shows the level that the game has gone to over the past decade.
"Setanta have really done the county proud."
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And, although he does not say it, there is a strong sense of unfinished business on the mind of the Burt man who has 21 Donegal senior hurling championship medals.
McCann said the side had a good year playing in three competitions, winning the Conor McGurk Cup and getting to the final of the Division 2B competition and the final of the Nickey Rackard Cup.
“Maybe Meath were just a step above us in the 2B Final as they won by 0-20 to 0-14, but I felt that we left the Nickey Rackard Cup final behind us as Wicklow only beat us by 1-20 to 3-12.
“We played well in the first half but not so in the second half and we picked up injuries to our captain Ronan McDermott and Richie Ryan which were big blows as well.
“I would really like to win another Nickey Rackard title and try and bring Donegal hurling up to Christy Ring level.
“We won it in 2018 and again in 2020 when we did not get promoted which was a real downer as I feel we are well able to compete at Christy Ring level.
“If you look at Derry and Meath who went on to win it and we had Meath under pressure for a long time in that League final.
“I want to get us to a better place and if you look at that Wicklow team-this was their first year playing in the Nickey Rackard Cup in quite a while as they had previously been in the Christy Ring Cup.”