SEPTEMBER’S meeting of the Donegal County Committee is expected to ratify the appointments of Declan Bonner and Shaun Paul Barrett as the new Donegal under-21 and minor football managers.
At a meeting of Donegal’s management committee last night, it was agreed that Bonner and Barrett’s names will be recommended to club delegates at the next monthly meeting this Monday in Ballybofey.
The County Board will ask the clubs to rubber stamp the appointments after going through the selection process over the last two weeks.
Bonner (pictured above) is set to make history when he succeeds Maxi Curran as the Donegal Under-21 manager.
The 1992 All-Ireland winner will become the first man to manage Donegal at under-16, under-17, minor, under-21 and senior levels.
Bonner was the senior team manager from 1997 to 2000.
After spells as a club manager in Gaoth Dobhair, Dungloe and his native Na Rossa, he was back in inter-county management when he took over the Donegal Under-16s.
He won the Buncrana Cup with the Under-16s in 2012 and followed that up in 2013 when he guided the Donegal Under-17s to the Jim McGuigan Cup.
Bonner was at the helm in 2014 when the Donegal minors won an Ulster League and Championship double before becoming the first team from this county to contest an All-Ireland minor final.
They lost that final to Kerry, but Bonner – after staving off competition from Barrett – was back in the hotseat for 2015 when Donegal retained the Ulster Minor League crown only to bow out of the Championship following an Ulster semi-final loss to Derry.
Bonner will retain his backroom team, which includes Gary Boyle, Gary Walsh, Anthony McGrath, Robert Farren, Davy McLaughlin, Oisin Cannon and Paul Coyle.
Milford clubman Barrett (above) was the manager of the Donegal Under-16s for the 2013 Buncrana Cup win and was in charge of the Donegal Under-17s for their Jim McGuigan Cup success in 2014.
He challenged Bonner for the minor job a year ago, but the Lettermacaward man held onto his post, but now Barrett will succeed Bonner as minor boss.
Barrett, a member of An Garda SÃochána based in Buncrana, had, among others, Neilly Byrne, Darren Nash, Luke Barrett and Mickey McGlynn on board during his previous stint wearing a Donegal Bainisteoir bib.
A simply majority is all that is needed from the clubs to see the appointments ratified.
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