Bonner: Sigerson absentees will leave Donegal without '10 or 12 players' against Derry

Two years ago, Donegal pulled out of the Dr McKenna Cup with manager Declan Bonner saying his hands were tied with the crossover between the competition and the Sigerson Cup that ran concurrently.

Ahead of the McKenna Cup semi-final against Derry on Tuesday, which Donegal reached courtesy of Saturday’s 0-15 to 1-9 win over Antrim in Portglenone, Bonner admits he will have to do something of a headcount.

Donegal do enough to see off Antrim to reach Dr McKenna Cup semi-finals

Donegal are operating off a larger panel this year and there is no question mark over the Derry fixture, although Bonner will have to think on his feet with one eye on the opening Allianz League Division 1 fixture in Sligo against Mayo on Saturday week.

“We’re going to be a little tight on numbers going into the game with the Sigerson Cup on and we’re going to be without maybe 10 to 12 players,” he said. “Five of those are available for Letterkenny IT and the lads will be playing for them. I’ll have to see what the numbers are like there but yeah, we do want the game against Derry. We want to get the game.

“It’s unfortunate with the Sigerson on in the middle of things. We had to pull out two years ago with not having numbers. I’m not saying this is going to happen this time. It will be a very good match and we want the match. That’s going to leave us 10 to 12 days out from Mayo and it’s ideal preparation.”

LyIT are playing University of Limerick on Tuesday at the NUI Air Dome in Bekan, Co Mayo, at 3:30pm, so it’s expected Peadar Mogan, Conor O'Donnell, Jason McGee, Ryan McFadden and Rory O’Donnell will be with Maxi Curran’s panel.

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DCU are facing St Mary’s on Tuesday at 2pm and although there’s a sizable Donegal contingent, from Bonner’s panel, only Mark Curran played in their opening round win over NUI Maynooth. Oisin Gallen from MacCumhaill's, St Eunan's Shane O'Donnell and Jamie Grant of Termon are part of the Dubliners' panel.

Jamie Brennan, who made his first appearance of 2022 in Portglenone, is listed on the NUI Galway extended panel while Jeaic Mac Ceallabhuí didn’t feature for UCD last week, whilst like Brennan, making a fine contribution for Donegal against Antrim. UCD are in action on Wednesday against UCC at Belfield.

There are also doubts over the fitness of Brendan McCole and Eoghan Ban Gallagher. Although Bonner will have some dots to join between now and Tuesday, he spoke about the McKenna Cup with enthusiasm.

“For me the McKenna Cup is so, so important in terms of getting preparation before going into the National League,” added. “We’re going to get a really good challenge on Tuesday night.”