DONEGAL WILL FACE a difficult start to 2018 with the news they’ll be without Michael Murphy, Neil McGee and Frank McGlynn for the first three games of the Division 1 league campaign.
The Donegal Democrat reports that all three players are recovering from injuries and, while they’re expected to return to training next week, they won’t be fit to play until Round 4 at the earliest.
Donegal open up with ties against Kerry (away), Galway (home) and Dublin (away), although Kerry and Dublin are likely to field weakened teams as they ease into the year.
“It was always going to be the case where the three boys were going to miss the start of the league,” new Donegal boss Declan Bonner told the Democrat.
“They (Murphy, McGee and McGlynn) are all back in training and working on strength and conditioning in the gym for a number of weeks. But they have done no pitch work yet but are due back on the pitch next week and simply they won’t have enough pitch work done for start of the league.
“We will monitor them closely over the next few weeks and it is hard to say when they will be fit to play. But I think you can rule out the first three games at least.”
Bonner added that the clash against Kerry may come “a week or two too soon” for Leo McLoone, who has resumed training after stepping away from the panel in 2017. Paddy McGrath has already been ruled until March.
Odhran MacNiallais has returned to the panel for 2018, while St Vincent’s midfielder Nathan Mullins is also part of Bonner’s plans.
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