Declan Bonner hopes to be able to recall a couple of familiar faces and doesn’t believe there will be any further retirements from the Donegal panel for 2018.
Twenty years after being appointed for a previous tenure as Donegal boss, Bonner was returned having been informed on Wednesday night that he was the choice of the selection committee.
Retention and recruitment will be chief among Bonner’s early concerns and the 52-year-old has already taken steps to address both.
Karl Lacey recently became the latest of the 2012 All-Ireland winning players to retire from inter-county football.
The likes of Eamon McGee, Neil Gallagher, Colm McFadden, Rory Kavanagh and Christy Toye have all hung up the county boots in the last two years, but Bonner does not expect the likes of Neil McGee and Frank McGlynn to do likewise.
“I have spoken to most of the guys in that bracket,” Bonner – who has confirmed Paul McGonigle as his number 2 – said at a press conference last night.
“We do need those experienced players.
“There were a lot of young lads involved this year.”
Odhrán Mac Niallais and Leo McLoone opted out of the Donegal squad this year but optimism is high that both can be coaxed back by the new manager.
Bonner, who confirmed that he had conversations with both players, said: “The picture will become clearer after the Club Championship.
“Those are the type of players we need.”
Bonner said he already had an idea of the make-up of the squad he wanted to assemble and hinted that there could be some ‘lads who have been in the squad’ who could be left disappointing in the coming weeks.
The 1992 All-Ireland winner is confident that Donegal can get over their disappointing 2017, when heavy defeats to Tyrone and Galway resulted in the resignation of Rory Gallagher last month.
Bonner said: “We have lost more players than other counties, but we still have the nucleus of a very good side.
“Our ambition is to be competitive and we have to aim for the Super 8. The easiest way to get in there is by winning the Ulster Championship. Ulster will be a minefield again. It’s going to be a tough one.”
Bonner was asked about Michael Murphy’s role in the team and suggested that the Glenswilly man would have ‘a more advanced role’ under his watch.
On the team’s style, he added: “We need to defend better. We need to expand our game more.
“We are naturally a running team, and that’s the way it has been in Donegal, but we have to expand. Teams counter-act that and it becomes very, very difficult.
“We have quality forwards and we have to get them in the final third of the field.
“We have to change the way we play. The personnel will dictate that, but we have a couple of systems that we have that we’re ready to go with.”
Bonner’s first competitive assignment will be the Dr McKenna Cup while Donegal will compete in Division 1 of the Allianz League in 2018.
A serial competitor, Bonner wants results on all fronts.
He said: “Results, to me, are always important. I want to win every game, no matter what 15 players we have out. That’s just in my DNA. If I put out my Na Rossa Under-12s, I want them to be winning. That won’t change.
“I want us to be competitive in the McKenna Cup, in Division 1 and in the Championship. They will be the three stages we’ll be looking at.”
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