RORY’S STORY IS NOT IN OUR MINDS AT ALL
Ballybofey, tomorrow, 4pm
PAT NOLAN DONEGAL manager Declan Bonner has played down the Rory Gallagher factor ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Derry.
The Derry boss cut his coaching and managerial teeth at senior inter-county level with Donegal having been part of Jim Mcguinness’s management team when they won the 2012 All-ireland.
He then succeeded Mcguinness following the 2014 campaign, serving three years as manager, while he also lived and worked in the county for a long number of years.
After guiding his native Fermanagh to the 2018 Ulster final, he’s just taken Derry into Division Two and they are on something of a roll coming to
Ballybofey tomorrow.
Bonner said: “Ah listen, that will always come up because he has been involved in the past.
“It doesn’t make any wild difference to be honest. Football has moved on and it is evolving every year.
“We haven’t paid too much heed to that over the last few weeks and we’re just getting our end of it right.
“Yeah we will look at Derry and the challenges that they are going to bring and the threats that they will bring.
“But we need to get our end of it right and that has been the challenge over the last four or five training sessions.
“We know it’s going to be a big test, there’s no doubt because Derry are very, very fit and they are well set up and they have a lot of good attacking options so we have got to be ready for a battle.”
Derry will play in Division Two for the first time since 2017 next year, though Bonner insists they should always be in and around the top 10 counties in football.
“There are always good footballers in Derry, if you look at their college system and their underage system, they’ve always been strong.
“I battled against them at underage level right the way through and they were always well-organised, always good footballers.
“They have done well, there’s no doubt Derry are a top ten team and they should always be up around there.
“The club structure in the county is very strong, a lot of very strong clubs, so it’s no surprise to
be honest.”