Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Silverware and Super 8 place so close for rising Donegal side
We’ll have a fair idea of what he (Gallagher) brings to the table too
DECLAN BONNER says his ambitious Donegal players are just 70 minutes from hitting their two big targets for the season.
The former Donegal attacker hatched a plan with his players last winter to win the Ulster title and, by extension, qualify for the new Super 8s.
If they beat Fermanagh as everyone outside of the Erne County is expecting, they’ll achieve those twin ambitions with a single afternoon’s work.
That would place Donegal in Group 2 of the new Super 8s along with, most likely, Dublin, as well as the Munster and Connacht runners-up, or whoever beats them in the qualifiers.
The thoughts of featuring in that glamorous group and hosting a huge game will inspire both groups today.
Donegal boss Bonner said of the Super 8s: “That’s where we want to be, where everyone wants to be. The provincial title is what we want. Clones on Ulster final day is where every young football dreams of. Clones and Croke Park are the two places all young footballers dream of.”
Donegal have plotted a careful path to the biggest day in Ulster football.
In his first season in charge, Bonner used 35 different players in this year’s league, just two less than Kerry who had the highest experimentation in Division One.
Bonner (above) was clearly on a mission to uncover his strongest team and reckons he’s got just that now.
Neil McGee is suspended and injury has knocked Martin McElhinney, Martin O’Reilly and Nathan Mullins out of contention to play in Clones.
But the lineup is a strong mix of rising star talent and experienced big game players.
The irony, of course, is that the majority of the Donegal players have been coached for years by Fermanagh boss Rory Gallagher.
He was in charge until last year and handed young guns Eoghan Ban Gallagher and Jamie Brennan among others their SFC debuts.
Bonner reckons it works both ways and said: “We’ll have a fair idea of what he brings to the table too. He has brought good organisation to Fermanagh.
“But we’ve had numerous training sessions and there is no talk about it. We look at it as a group. We’re just concentrating on our end of it. We need to get that right and not worry about anyone else.”
Donegal have blazed a trail to the decider with 2-20, 2-16 and 2-22 tallies racked up in wins over Cavan, Derry and Down.
Bonner, in his second stint in charge, rejected talk that they’ve had it easy and said they can only beat what’s put in front of them.
And he reckons winning a serious piece of silverware would do wonders for a group being talked about as dark horses for an All-Ireland challenge.
He said: “It would be brilliant for the whole group to lift the Ulster title. There is a real hunger and desire to life it.
“The boys have worked hard and prepared really well and are looking forward to getting the performance right.”