The Donegal manager, Declan Bonner, has hit back at Joe Brolly’s comments about Tir Chonaill’s play.
Last week, speaking on the Independent’s ‘Throw In’ podcast, Brolly spoke about the change in style that was coming into Gaelic football, but the controversial Derryman had a barb at Bonner.
“I called Cavan the black death three or four years ago when they won their third U-21 Ulster title in a row. It was one of the most distressing sights in Irish life to watch the Cavan U-21s … but they had nothing on Declan Bonner’s underage Donegal teams,” Brolly said,.
“I mean, the Donegal U-21s last year, it was the opposite of what sport ought to be, particularly given the calibre of player at his disposal.”
Bonner assumed control of the Donegal seniors in August and opened their Allianz League campaign with a narrow, but high-scoring loss to Kerry yesterday.
Donegal put 3-14 on the board with goals by Tony McClenaghan, Odhrán Mac Niallais and Darach O’Connor adding to ten points from the on-song Patrick McBrearty.
And Bonner, after the 2-18 to 3-14 defeat in Killarney hit back at Brolly.
Noting that last year’s U21s scored 0-19 against Tyrone, 3-17 against Cavan and 3-17 again in the final against Derry, Bonner told Off The Ball: “Somebody would need to get their facts right. There’s no point in just spoofing out…that doesn’t match up”
Donegal trailed 1-8 to 0-8 at half-time when Bonner challenged his men for a response – and got it in the second half.
“We knew we’d be up against it in the second half,” said the Donegal boss.
“We asked them to be brave, to have courage and to give it everything – they emptied the tank in the second half. There was real pride in the jersey in that second half.
“We felt there would be goals in the second half. We reverted to a running game and we caused Kerry a lot of problems. We scored 3-6 in the second half against a stiff breeze.
“We probably deserved more. It looked like we’d get a win. We were lacking a bit of experience in the last ten minutes.”
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