Declan Bonner’s appointment as Fermanagh senior football manager on Monday night brings the managerial merry-go-round to a halt for the 2026 season.
In total, 12 intercounty senior football teams will be under new sideline leadership next year with 20 retaining the same management for the coming campaign.
In hurling, only one of the sides competing in either the Leinster or Munster senior hurling championships next year will have a new manager as Ben O’Connor replaces Pat Ryan in Cork.
Fermanagh were the last county to rubber stamp a senior football manager for 2026 – with Donegal native Bonner ratified at Monday night’s county board meeting.
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In fact, the last two senior football appointments for 2026 have been Donegal natives taking on managerial roles outside their home county, with Kilcar’s Mark McHugh named Westmeath boss last week.
Bonner succeeds Kieran Donnelly at the helm of the Ernesiders. Donnelly managed Fermanagh for four years but stepped down from the position last month.
Bonner had two spells in charge of Donegal, taking on the role for the first time in 1997, just four weeks after retiring from intercounty football. He remained in the post until 2000.
In 2014 he managed Donegal to a first ever All-Ireland minor football final appearance and subsequently returned to the senior hot seat in late 2017. He remained at the helm for five years, leading Donegal to Ulster titles in 2018 and 2019.
The Lettermacaward native, who won an All-Ireland title with Donegal as a player in 1992, is currently managing Erne Gaels and guided the Belleek outfit to the 2024 Fermanagh senior football title in his maiden season in charge, ending the club’s 43-year wait for a third county title.
Erne Gaels had lost consecutive finals in 2022 and 2023, and are currently bidding to retain the title.
It is understood Bonner was the only candidate interviewed for the position last week, although former Fermanagh minor and under-20 boss Maurice McLaughlin had also been linked with the vacancy.
Fermanagh will compete in Division Three of the National Football League in 2026, alongside Westmeath, Sligo, Down, Laois, Limerick, Clare and Wexford.
It means Bonner will encounter McHugh when Fermanagh meet Westmeath. Bonner played alongside Mark’s father, Martin, on Donegal’s 1992 Sam Maguire-winning side.
Fermanagh finished fourth in Division Three this season, accumulating nine points and finishing just outside the promotion places as three teams (Kildare, Offaly, Clare) all tied on 10 points.
Fermanagh were relegated from Division Two in 2024, making an immediate return down the league ladder after their 2023 promotion.
They bowed out of this year’s Ulster senior football championship after losing to Down 2-19 to 0-23 at the quarter-final stage.
Their last provincial championship win was in 2018 when a Rory Gallagher-managed side beat both Armagh and Monaghan.
Fermanagh’s best chance of summer success next season will almost certainly be in the Tailteann Cup. In this year’s competition they lost to eventual champions Kildare in the semi-final.
It was the furthest the Ernesiders have ever progressed in the competition, having previously exited at the preliminary quarter-final and quarter-final stages.
Even if Fermanagh were to succeed in achieving league promotion next season, recent history suggests that will not be enough for them to claim a place in the All-Ireland championship.
Kildare and Offaly finished in the promotion places this year but were still confined to the Tailteann Cup. Fermanagh would probably need to advance to the Ulster final in order to play in the top-tier next year.
They last contested a provincial decider in 2018, a showdown they lost to a Declan Bonner-managed Donegal.
Fermanagh have never won an Ulster senior football title and are the only county in the province still waiting for that breakthrough.
Of the 12 counties with new senior football managers next season, four are in Ulster (Fermanagh, Cavan, Antrim and Derry), three in Connacht (Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo), three in Leinster (Dublin, Louth and Westmeath) and two in Munster (Clare and Waterford).
Both of the All-Ireland football finalists will retain their respective managers, with Jack O’Connor recommitting to Kerry while Jim McGuinness remains in charge in Donegal.
However, Donegal GAA announced over the weekend that there would be changes to their backroom team, with physios Shane McClean and Joseph O’Donnell, and selector Luke Barrett departing the set-up to “progress their education and professional development.”
But only one of the two All-Ireland hurling final managers will be returning next season after Cork’s second-half collapse to Tipperary effectively ended Ryan’s tenure with the Rebels.
None of the Leinster SHC counties have changed managers, while the two teams likely to be challenging for Joe McDonagh Cup honours – Antrim and Laois – will also continue with the same men at the helm.
Davy Fitzgerald returns for a second year with Antrim and Tommy Fitzgerald remains in place with his native Laois.
2026 managerial appointments
Gaelic football
Unchanged:
Armagh: Kieran McGeeney – 12th season
Donegal: Jim McGuinness – third season
Down: Conor Laverty – fourth season
Monaghan: Gabriel Bannigan – second season
Tyrone: Malachy O’Rourke – second season
Galway (Pádraic Joyce – seventh season
London: Michael Maher – seventh season
Leitrim: Steven Poacher – second season
Carlow: Joe Murphy – first full season
Kildare: Brian Flanagan – second season
Laois: Justin McNulty – third season
Longford: Mike Solan – second season
Meath: Robbie Brennan – second season
Offaly: Mickey Harte & Declan Kelly – second season
Wexford: John Hegarty – fourth season
Wicklow: Oisín McConville – fourth season
Cork: John Cleary – fourth full season
Kerry: Jack O’Connor – fifth season
Limerick: Jimmy Lee – third season
Tipperary: Philly Ryan – second season
Movers & shakers:
Antrim: In – Mark Doran, Out – Andy McEntee
Cavan: In – Dermot McCabe, Out – Raymond Galligan
Derry: In – Ciarán Meenagh, Out – Paddy Tally
Fermanagh: In – Declan Bonner, Out – Kieran Donnelly
Mayo: In – Andy Moran, Out – Kevin McStay
Roscommon: In – Mark Dowd, Out – Davy Burke
Sligo: In – Eamonn O’Hara & Dessie Sloyan, Out – Tony McEntee
Dublin: In – Ger Brennan, Out – Dessie Farrell
Louth: In – Gavin Devlin, Out – Ger Brennan
Westmeath: In – Mark McHugh, Out – Dermot McCabe
Clare: In – Paul Madden, Out – Peter Keane
Waterford: In – Ephie Fitzgerald, Out – Paul Shankey
Hurling (Liam MacCarthy counties)
Unchanged:
Tipperary: Liam Cahill – fourth season
Limerick: John Kiely – 10th season
Clare: Brian Lohan – seventh season
Waterford: Peter Queally – second season
Kilkenny: Derek Lyng – fourth season
Wexford: Keith Rossiter – third season
Dublin: Niall Ó Ceallacháin – second season
Offaly: Johnny Kelly – fourth season
Galway: Micheál Donoghue – second season
Kildare: Brian Dowling – third season
Movers & shakers:
Cork: In – Ben O’Connor, Out – Pat Ryan
