Bonner: ‘Things mightn’t be ideal but a one-point win would be’

When Michael Murphy pulled up not even five minutes into the Allianz League Division 1 fixture against Monaghan in Ballybofey last month, there was a collective gasp from the Donegal support.

Not from the terraces, where sometimes the energy – positive or negative – can be felt on the field of play but more from the armchairs, which is where the bulk of sports followers have had to plonk to watch their favorite teams for 15 months now.   

Murphy, who helped Donegal to an opening day 0-18 to 0-16 win in Omagh, trundled off with a look of disappointment on his face, although the lack of a major panic suggested it might've been the case beforehand of “give it a go and any bother, off you go.”

The Donegal captain quietly sat on the bench and was handed an ice-pack by Cathal Ellis, the team physio, soon afterwards, which was placed on the hamstring that we later learned was strained.

Murphy watched on as Donegal were taken to shreds at the back in that first half, with Conor McCarthy bagging an 11-minute hat-trick for Monaghan. Declan Bonner admitted this week there was an inquisition afterwards about those leaks, a post-match 'what the hell happened there?’

“Any day you concede four goals you need to sit down and sort it out,” he said. “It’s something we looked at.”

On the day - considering his side were nine down in the first half and then seven in the second - he was reasonably content to scrape a point following a 1-20 to 4-11 draw in a not-too-typical all-Ulster clash in the 'mini-Ulster championship' as he called the Division 1 (North), brackets being optional.

“We would rather have done without it and got playing the likes of Dublin, Galway and Kerry,” Bonner says of the regionalised format used this year, which, he basically admitted, was better than nothing.

Without their skipper, Donegal played out an entertaining 1-16 to 1-16 draw at Armagh. The sun dominated the Cathedral city and with 500 supporters permitted entry there was a semblance of normality. Armagh’s support, which was nine-tenths of the permitted attendees, left with a mix of pride and disappointment as Donegal had scored the final four points of the game to avoid the relegation play-off.

A semi-final against Dublin knowing there was no final to be played because of the proximity of this Sunday’s Ulster SFC opener against Down, wasn’t much of a prize. 

Former Donegal captain Barry Monaghan admitted the contest was “like something you’d see at a pitch opening” as a pedestrian affair saw Dessie Farrell’s team win 1-18 to 1-14 and therefore win half a league trophy with Kerry - it’ll have an eternal asterix beside it in the history books. Maybe a quiz question in a few years time?

Saying Patrick McBrearty stepped up in Murphy’s absence isn’t the fairest way of putting it. The Kilcar forward has been ‘stepping up’ since he was a 17-year rookie in 2011, regardless of who was or wasn’t alongside him, and scored 0-26 over the four outings.

All in all, the league was satisfactory, although a little instinctive, according to Bonner: “We wanted to be playing Division 1 football in 2022 and that’s where we need to be at. You can’t keep players in cold storage and you have to get them up to speed. We used 30 players in the league.”

Any fretting over Murphy should be ill-advised, with Bonner almost all but confirming his return for Newry, while others who have missed out of late like Paul and Jamie Brennan are also back in the mix, so long as they make it through the last session or two.

With the condensed nature of things, we’re hearing more about soft tissue injuries than ever before, as Hugh McFadden noted: “The return to games probably gave a bigger shock to the body than I expected.”

“Michael’s not far away at this stage,” Bonner said on Tuesday of his captain. “We’re very hopeful that he’ll be available for Sunday. It’s always the case that you’d like to have every player in every game. 

“You’d like to have a break between matches and like to have the usual six-week run between League and Championship. We didn’t have that and we ended up with a lot of soft tissue injuries. That has been a concern, but we haven’t been the only county like that.”

Only the hamstrung Odhrán MacNiallais - who brought an element of calm amid the chaos in his fleeting appearances on his return to the set-up - and Andrew McClean are definitely out this weekend. 

Both, we’re told, are about two weeks away. Derry await Sunday’s winners in the quarter-final in a fortnight but if 2020 taught us anything - and it taught us loads - it’s that there’s no point in getting ahead of yourself. 

Talk of Cavan and the capitulation last year in the provincial final has long since been stopped and Down suffered similar trauma when they relinquished a 10-point lead to lose to Mickey Graham’s team in a semi-final played in a monsoon.

Either Down or Donegal will get a sense of 'Cavan-itis' on Sunday afternoon. Their championship will be over as Croke Park decided to leave the back door locked this year again. It’s more ‘old normal’ when Declan Bonner and the rest of us didn't know what a Zoom press conference was  - or is it Teams?

Bonner himself played and managed his first spell long before, when straight knockout was normal. He concluded: “We lost in 1987 and 88 in first round matches, both against Armagh, and it was a long summer afterwards.  It's sink or swim at this stage. It’s a matter of getting over the line and getting the victory. That’s what it’s all about.

“It’s back to the old days of knock-out football. The back door introduction in 2001 was huge. It opened up everything. It’s the same for everyone. It’s a big test, going to Newry to play Down. A one-point win would do us on Sunday.

“You have to be on the ball now this year. You have to be 100 percent ready. It’s not ideal but it’s not an ideal world we’re in at the minute.”

Indeed. An away win of any sort on Sunday would be ideal for starters.