Donegal manager Declan Bonner is hoping that he can call on experienced defenders Neil McGee and Paddy McGrath for Saturday’s crunch Super 8’s clash against Mayo.

Both players missed the draw against Kerry a fortnight ago with McGee only being withdrawn just before the throw in.

The result against the Kingdom means that Donegal must go to Castlebar and get at least a draw if they are to progress to the All-Ireland semi-final.

Having the likes of McGrath and McGee available could be invaluable as their experience may be needed to see them over the line.

Bonner admitted to the Irish Post that they were hopeful that both players would be available for selection.

“We’d hope so,” said Bonner. “The only certainty is that Eoghan Bán (Gallagher) won’t be back. That’s a huge loss to us to be quite honest, he picked up a bad injury at training and will miss the rest of the season.

“Listen we lost basically our full back line. But the lads that came in done really well. Odhran McFadden-Ferry was really good, Caolan Ward and Stephen McMenamin and we got to grips with David Clifford.

“I thought they really battled, gave it their all and left it all out on the pitch. We were down a lot of key men, but we have belief within the squad.”

Join the hoganstand.com match tracker this weekend for live coverage of the last round of Super 8s fixtures, the All-Ireland U20 football final and both All-Ireland U20 hurling semi-finals.

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