I’ve walked away from Ulster title
BOYLE INSISTS DONEGAL HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO CONQUER..BUT HE WON’T WATCH ON FROM BENCH
DEPARTED Donegal ‘keeper Peter Boyle believes he has turned his back on an Ulster Championship medal this year.
The Aobh Ruadh man was left out for two recent games and took the shock decision to quit Declan Bonner’s county squad and put all his efforts into club football.
“I have no doubt I’m leaving behind a team that is going to win the Ulster Championship this year,” said Boyle.
“I could have sat on the bench and got an Ulster medal but for me it would not have counted as anything.
“I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Donegal can win an Ulster title, just look at that fullforward line. It is unbelievable and the management team as well is second to none.
“There is no stone left unturned between Declan and all his team. Every training session you learn something new and if you have a flaw in your game it will be rectified.
“The hardest thing about leaving for me was that I am leaving behind a lot of friends. You get a good rapport with the lads.”
Bonner (right) has declined to comment but Boyle revealed his manager was “shocked” when he informed him of his decision to leave shortly after Donegal’s narrow victory over Kildare in the League in Ballyshannon.
Boyle, 25, an All-ireland U21 finalist in 2010, made his debut in 2011 and has played 17 times for the county seniors. He was dropped for the Dr Mckenna Cup final and also for the vital Kildare match on his home pitch in Ballyshannon.
“I knew Shaun (Patton) was getting a game in the Dr Mckenna Cup final and that’s fine, it might have been a final but it is still the Mckenna Cup.
“I knew that the Kildare game was a massive one for us, our biggest game of the year.
“On the Tuesday before that match there was an A v B game and I noticed I was on the B team.
“Nothing was said to me and an A and B game was on Thursday and I was on the B team again.
“The Donegal team was named on the Saturday and I wasn’t on.
“I was disappointed, not the fact that it was in Ballyshannon, people might say ‘he didn’t get a game on his home turf and he’s sour about that’. That’s not the case, but it was the fact that it was the biggest game of the year and he felt that I didn’t do anything wrong.
“I was dropped and disappointed about that. When you have your biggest game you play your strongest team. If Declan wants to play Shaun, that’s fine, but I can’t afford to be absent from Aodh Ruadh this year.
“This is an absolutely huge year, and knowing that I was not getting a game with Donegal I will give it 100 per cent with the club.
“And if Aodh Ruadh get relegated I will have no regrets, knowing that I gave it 100 per cent.”
Things came to a head after the victory over Kildare and Boyle refused to reconsider.
“I knew then that this might not be for me, training six days a week. I chatted Declan straight afterwards in the Sandhouse in Rossnowlagh,” he said.
“In fairness to Declan, he was disappointed and shocked, but I had already made my mind up. He told me to give it a few more weeks and see where I was at but, as I said, my mind was made up.”
The hardest thing about leaving was that I am leaving behind a lot of friends..