Thomas Bonner hails from the Cathedral Town in Donegal, and although it is only 13 and a half miles from Letterkenny to Ballybofey, his route to becoming a Finn Harps player has been much longer than that. For Thomas the road to Finn Park has taken him firstly to the City of Derry and then across the Irish Sea to Black Country in the heart of the midlands of England.

Thomas began playing like so many other players in the Letterkenny and District Schoolboys League. As he recalls “I played for Iona when I reached the age of eleven or twelve, and then moved onto Letterkenny Rovers team who were competing in the Derry and District League. Institute in Derry was my next stop and whilst there I was playing in the U18 Irish League against teams like Linfield, Glentoran and Coleraine and the season before I left Institute we were winners. I also made it into the reserve side at Institute.”

Thomas was being watched by a number of English League clubs at this stage and was invited on trials by amongst others Leicester City, Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers. After visiting Wolves, there was no doubt in the young Thomas’ mind “Wolves was the place that I wanted to go. When I was offered a contract by the club I had no hesitation in signing.” Although the move didn’t work out and he was released this time last year (after two years with the club) he says, “I have no regrets it was a very good experience. I didn’t have the best of times in my final season, I tore the cruciate ligament in my knee and I was out for the best part of nine months. I tried to get another club in England but decided to come home and was very unsure about what I was gonna do.”

He carries on “I came close to packing football in all together. I was thinking about giving it up and doing something else. I took a break for about a year and this was the right decision for me. When I came back from Wolves, my head and heart were not into playing football. Now it is different and I am back training hard, I train on my own in the gym in the mornings and then train with Harps in the evenings.”

Thomas acknowledges the support and help he got from his parents Mary and Clement. “They are without a doubt the biggest influences on my career. They have both been so supportive since I came home and they have accepted the decisions made by me.” Football is in the Bonner household as Thomas younger brother, by one year, Fintan has also made the Finn Harps first team this season. “I think Fintan is one of the best young players at Finn Park at the moment and I am not just saying that because he is my brother.” Thomas reveals that another brother, 15 year old Denis is playing at his old club Institute and the family is completed by Luke aged 9 and a sister Grainne who is aged three.

Whilst Thomas would have seen a number of Harps matches as a youngster he does confess that he wouldn’t have considered himself as a Harps fan. However, Finn Harps, are also in the family blood as his grandfather, Thomas Gillen, and Uncle, Paul Gillen, who also hail from Letterkenny have been regulars at Finn Park for many years.

Thomas has few ambitions this season other than “to focus on getting myself in the team and keeping Finn Harps up this year. I just want to be a success playing well on the pitch. I am just taking it one game at a time. While it hasn’t been the best of starts for the team, if we can get two or three wins on board we will be back up with the rest of the teams. It is handy now having nearly the full squad back to fitness. I honestly think that we will pick up wins and points soon. We are a better side than five or six of the teams in the Premier Division and it is up to us to prove that now.