Declan Bonner says he has had ‘no regrets’ in his final stint in charge of Donegal and has said his 30 years being a part of the county setup has been an ‘absolute privilege’.
Bonner announced yesterday he would step down as manager of Donegal after five years in charge in his second stint.
A senior player for 12 years followed by three years in charge at the turn of the millennium, before coming back 10 years as under-16 manager, and bringing the team up towards senior level has seen him spend almost three decades being involved with the Donegal side.
On his departure, with his last game coming in the All-Ireland second round qualifier loss against Armagh last month, Bonner had been pondering his future and despite having one year remaining on his contract, officially called it quits last night.
Speaking about this years results, Bonner began with the Ulster final against Derry which went to extra-time before a loss, while he then followed it up with the second round qualifier against Armagh.
Bonner said that after losing to Tyrone in the 2021 Ulster Championship he wanted to see if he still had the same passion and hunger for the job but he stated he ‘had the passion to go back in as manager’ and ‘had no regrets’.
In this season, from the Dr McKenna Cup final loss to Monaghan, to the Ulster final and All-Ireland qualifier, Bonner believes there was one recurring underlying problem with the performances.
“Ultimately inconsistency let us down and there was times we were performing as well as any of the teams in the top tier.
“It’s very difficult to a certain point (why inconsistencies occur). If you look at the Ulster Final we were two points up and then was the time to put the foot on the throat and win that game, we didn’t and conceded two soft scores in a minute.
“In the game against Armagh we played 25 minutes of our best football all season and ultimately we were undone by errors and all of a sudden it’s backs to the wall again.
“After the Ulster final there was a lot of talk about how we played.
“We knew we had to play a certain way and when we did get on top of Derry, it was a huge opportunity to win that game and that was the disappointing factor when we were two points up in the Ulster final.”
In the recent weeks there had been plenty of speculation after the Armagh loss whether the 1992 All-Ireland winner would stay on, but Bonner took time to speak to all of his players and staff before coming to a final decision.
“We knew we had the Armagh game coming up and after it I knew that was it. After that game I felt if I was asked a question (in an interview) I would’ve said exactly what I felt at that stage and I wanted to be fair to everyone.
“In the last couple of weeks I spoke to everyone almost on an individual basis that was involved to let them know of my decision.
“Some of the older players I had informed a number of weeks back but I got to speak to all the players and management over the weekend.”
And staying on as long as he did, Bonner mentioned what drove him and what he pinpoints the near shortcomings of this season on.
He added: “I didn’t expect to be senior manager for five years, I thought it was only going to be three but then the pandemic kicked in and that had a huge impact to be quite honest.
“It was tough going and everything changed with the league form and the Championship.
“But that didn’t mean I gave it any less than 100%, I was in 24/7 and you had to have an obsession to get Donegal to that next level.
“It was a huge honour and I was very fortunate to manage and play for Donegal from all levels from under-16 up.”
The former boss also thanked all of the Donegal players and staff he worked with over the years.
