Declan Bonner says Ryan McHugh and Donegal are ready to go to ‘the next level’ in 2019.
McHugh was named as a GAA All-Star yesterday and will be presented with his award in Dublin tonight.
The Kilcar man is an All-Star for the second time after helping Donegal to the Ulster title in the summer.
Eoghan Ban Gallagher and Michael Murphy were also nominated for awards, but McHugh was the only Donegal player to make the cut.
“It’s a great achievement,” Bonner, who is heading into his second year as Donegal boss, said.
“He had a fabulous year.
“Any of the three would have been well-deserving of an All-Star. it was a good year for us and a good year for those players.”
McHugh’s name was in the headlines a lot this year with Bonner having called for more protection to be given from referees. Indeed, McHugh missed Kilcar’s bid to retain the Donegal SFC through a heavy concussion.
Bonner said: “It’s been well documented through the year that he shipped a fair degree of abuse through the year. He’s a vital player for us and this is a great way to end the year for us. Hopefully Ryan and Donegal will build on that now.
“For us now, the challenge is to take it to the next level and hopefully Michael Murphy and Eoghan Ban will get nominated and selected again.”
There was intense social media argument and debate yesterday over the selection, but Bonner has sympathy for the selection committee.
He said: “You can always make arguments for guys who didn’t get awards, but it’s harder to make the argument against someone who did make it. It’s a great honour for any player and all the guys who made it are deserving of a place. There can only be 15 players.
“Colm Cavanagh got in at number 3. He has an outstanding year playing as a sweeper. Brian Howard played most of the year at 12, but got in at midfield. They had great years and richly deserved their awards.”
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