Oisin Gallen has put recent injury woe to bed ahead of Armagh in Ulster decider

Oisin Gallen has revealed that he’s had to slowly coax a niggly quad injury back to health in recent weeks.

The Donegal All-Star forward made his first start of the Ulster SFC last weekend in their semi-final victory over Down.

Having got a good 50 minutes under his belt in that Mourne win, the MacCumhaills man says he’s now looking forward to getting back into the swing of things on Donegal’s front line.

“I was a little unfortunate with an injury and I missed the last two rounds of the league,” he explained. “I just got back in time for the first round of Ulster against Derry.

“It was great to get minutes, and it was the exact same last week against Monaghan. And it was more progress against Down to be in from the start.

“I probably cramped up near the midpoint of the second half, so it’s just a case of building the body back up.

“The two-week break now, and the training in between, will be another step along the way in all of that.”

“I had an issue with the quad and it just needed a little time. But all’s good now and it’s just about kicking on.”

Gallen says the reigning provincial champions’ main objective at the start of the season, first and foremost, was to get back to an Ulster final.

With that feat now achieved, and with Jim McGuinness’ men set to renew rivalries with foes Armagh on Saturday week, Gallen says the excitement can slowly simmer to the boil now during the fortnight’s break.

“Our main aim was to get back into the Ulster final. But none of the games have been easily won. It wasn’t easy against Monaghan and it wasn’t easy against Down.

“But the main thing is we’re back in the final.”

With the Ulster Council confirming that Clones will indeed stage that final - and not Croke Park, as some had speculated - Gallen says a packed St Tiernach’s Park is still right up there with the best atmospheres in Gaelic Games.

“It’ll be brilliant to come back into Clones with a full house and all that colour. The Ulster final is right up there with the really big days in the calendar.

“It and the Munster hurling final are ones that so many people look forward to.

“I’d imagine it’ll be mostly about recovery for us this week and, with the extra week after, it just allows you to get through that little bit of extra work.

“I think it allows the build-up for supporters too, to sort of gather at a nice pace.”