Declan Bonner thankful for ‘small margins’ as Donegal stay standing

DRENCHED, but delighted, Declan Bonner savoured a sweet Championship win over Tyrone.

By Chris McNulty at Sean MacCumhaill Park

The margins were never going to be wide here, but when he could finally breath, Bonner admitted that his nerves had been through the wringer.

With the backdoor system shelved for this Covid-delayed Championship, it was sink or swim in Ballybofey. The mercury rose as the clocked ticked, but Donegal, the reigning Ulster kingpins, are still standing after a 1-13 to 1-11 win.

“We made it more difficult than we should have,” Bonner assessed.

“We turned the ball over cheaply at times. Conditions were terrible out there.

“The Tyrone goal in the second half was a poor goal. It was from our own mistake, but our response to that was terrific – and that was the winning of the game.”

Thanks to a Michael Langan goal on 25 minutes, which was engineered by a monster kick-out by Shaun Patton, Donegal were 1-5 to 0-6 to the good at the short whistle.

They were rocked when Darragh Canavan netted for Tyrone, but a quick fire four-point salvo was the perfect riposte.

Bonner said: “We invited a lot of trouble on ourselves and we gave away a number of scores that we’re disappointed with. For us, it was about getting over the line and we got over the line.

“We had some big performances out there and the lads really, really dug deep when they had to.”

Donegal were also indebted to a goal-line intervention by Stephen McMenamin when Conor McKenna seemed certain to hit the net.

Tyrone had led by 0-5 to 0-1 at the water break in the first half, but that minute allowed Donegal to find their way.

Bonner said: “We knew that it would come down to the small margins and luckily we got over the line. I do feel that we were the better side.

“We played decent football. We stuck to the task and the lads dug really deep when they had to.”