So, who is Declan Bonner?

That’s the colourful Erne Gaels boss with the baseball cap worn back to front with the quick short steps of a soccer star who once had a trial with Celtic at the tender age of 17.

The late great Billy McNeill wanted him on a two-year trial after Bonner had finished his Leaving Cert in 1983 when Bonner captained the Irish U17 soccer team.

But a phone call from his Celtic friend Packie Bonner told him that O’Neill and his backroom team had gone to Manchester City and the deal was off although Bonner later lined out with Finn Harps.

But, in GAA terms Bonner is the real deal and has an unparalleled record of service.

Not many in Fermanagh may know this, but the Na Rossa club man had an unbroken connection with Donegal teams from 1983 (when he made his senior debut in October) to 2022.

40 years is surely a record for any man, and he was player/manager of Na Rossa and took them to an Intermediate County championship title as player/manager at the age of 22 in 1989.

And he took Gaoth Dobhar to a Donegal SFC in 2006. He was a key figure when Donegal won the All-Ireland senior final in 1992 and scored the last point and there is an iconic shot of him turning to the crowd and raising his hand on the day Brian McEniff’s men walked in the shadow of Paradise.

And then he went on to manage the Donegal senior team from 1998-2000 at the age of 32 and but for a sly push by Geffrey McGonigle on Donegal defender Noel McGinley he would have taken them to an Ulster title.

A few Ulster and U21 titles followed with Donegal and then he managed Donegal seniors from 2017 to 2022 taking them to Ulster titles in 2018 (when they beat Rory Gallagher’s Fermanagh) and 2019 when they beat Cavan.

But he wasn’t finished there as he served as chairman of Na Rossa from 2011 to 2023 and when there was nobody to manage his club’s senior team- Bonner stepped in and took them to an emotional JFC title.

On Sunday he will be hoping that his new club Erne Gaels will be able to win their first county title since 1981.

There is huge hope and expectation in the border village and Bonner is in the centre of it all, full-blooded, playing on the edge and inspiring a new bunch of players in and around Belleek.

“I just love the GAA beyond words, and it is firmly in my DNA. My late father Dan Bonner won two county championships in 1957 at full-back with Dungloe and at full forward with them in 1958 and he played for the county in the 1950 and he was a big influence on all of us and he was involved with Rosses Rovers when we won the U-12 county championship in 1977.

“All my brothers Sean, Donal, Michael and Aidan have played for Na Rossa.

“We have a record that in 1980 Sean was full-back,  I was centre back and Michael was full forward on a Donegal minor team that played Armagh in the first round of the Ulster championship and that was a record.”

So where does his fierce passion for the GAA come from?

“My brother Sean would have played on the edge all the time and was very unlucky as he played in the Ulster final in 1991 and did not go back in in 1992.

“My dad would have an edge too and the day that edge leaves me I will just pack it all in.

“And that is why I am delighted to have taken Paul Brennan along with me in managing Erne Gaels as he played on the edge as well.

“He is a great lad too.”

Bonner is proud of the fact that he was player/manager of his club when they won the Donegal Intermediate Championship in 1988- at the age of 22.

“It would not happen today, and I was midfield, Sean was centre back, Donal was playing centre forward and Michael was full forward, and Aidan was on the squad and my father Dan would have helped out as well.

“That was massive, and we did it after a replay against Naomh Ultan."

His long journey in Donegal began from 2011 to 2023.

“I was chairman of the club in 2023 and we could get nobody to manage the senior team so I took it and we won.

“I was burned out and I could not have imagined managing Erne Gaels in a million years."

But a few of the Erne Gaels lads approached him before Christmas and he initially said no-but their desire and enthusiasm sparked the old fighting instinct as he put on his armour for a very different challenge.

“I met with the lads, and I had kept in touch with Paul, and I knew that he was itching to get into coaching.

“So, I thought, Belleek is not that far away from me as I can be there in 50 minutes which was fine.”

So, what were his first impressions of the Donegal border club?

“You knew they were a bunch of lads who had lost a few county finals.

“And you could sense that they had a fierce hunger and desire to get over that line.

“We trained hard in the depths of January, and we got total commitment and that’s what we were looking for.

“There was 99 per cent buy-in.”

For Bonner, this was a fresh challenge that he could not resist, and he believes that any of the top five teams in Fermanagh would hold their own in Donegal and it was an eye-opener for him.

But his side picked up injuries during the League.

“Yeah, we probably trained them too hard at times and maybe some of them weren’t used to that level of training.

“At different stages, we were down seven or eight players at a time in the League.

“But they are all back for the championship and we have 25-26 lads training during the week and that makes a big difference."

And that latest morale-boosting win over Derrygonnelly is also a huge fillip.

“Huge. We controlled the game for the first fifteen minutes, and we allowed them back into the game and it was 0-06 to 0-04 at the break.

“But Derrygonnelly were really well set up defensively- one of the best I have seen in any club set-up.

“They were difficult to break down, but we showed great character after trailing by a point eight minutes from time.

“Seamie and Aogan came off the bench and made a huge difference.

“I said to Seamie at the start of the year that I was picturing the role he could play for us and that was coming off the bench and do a job and he is a big lad, with great skills, great ball handling and great feet and he knows where the posts are.

“His two scores and Aogan’s two scores were just massive for us and Oisin hit a great equaliser- a great point from the sideline and that was very important as we had gone over 20 minutes without a score and that brought us back level.

“It gave us momentum and the game ebbed and flowed towards the end and it was just great to make it.”

So where will the main threats come from in Enniskillen?

“I watched them, and we played them, and it is easy to see why they are favourites.

“They have quality everywhere and Johnny Cassidy was great on the last day, Conor McShea, Conor Love, Callum Jones, Richie O’Callaghan and Brandon Horan are all big players.

“They are big favourites going into the final, but we have prepared well for it and are looking forward to the challenge.”