DECLAN BONNER took the positives from defeat after Ryan McHugh’s late goal secured a McKenna Cup win for UUJ in Ballybofey.
Goals by Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Micheál Carroll, Brendan McCole and Ethan O’Donnell looked to have Donegal – who were as far out as 12/1 in some outlets pre-match – on their way to a win, but All-Star McHugh ensured otherwise.
“This game will bring them on,” Bonner told Donegal Sport Hub afterwards.
“It’s important that we get time to work with them. The potential is there, but we have a huge match on March 15.
“This was the start of our campaign in terms of moving towards March.
“We had a lot of good performance. There’s a lot of work that goes on in terms of the game plan and that was good today.
“We should have been more ahead and the only disappointing thing was that we didn’t kill the game off. We had lost our shape slightly, but we should have been out of sight.”
Donegal led at half-time with Gallagher and Carroll goaling in the opening half.
As well as McHugh’s goal, UUJ had seven points from Patrick McBrearty, although it was a decent afternoon out for Bonner’s men.
He said: “From a point of view of going forward, we were impressive. This is a stepping stone and we want to build on it.
“We have to build on it. I said to the group that the important thing was that we’re in a better position at the end of January than we were 12 months ago – and these games will give us that opportunity.”
Listen to the full interview below …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/declan-bonner-after-donegal-lose-to-uuj
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