Teams are still trying to figure out the new game - Pauric Bonner on SFC semis

We’re down to the final four in the Donegal Senior Football Championship, and there is a different feel to the semi-final shakeup.

With last year’s final pairing of St Eunan’s and Dungloe out, the two sides defeated by that pair in last year’s semi-finals are back at the same stage as Gaoth Dobhair and St Michael’s meet, with one guaranteed to go one step further this year.

Four Masters are the fresh face into this stage after more than a decade away, while Naomh Conaill are no strangers to the semis and look to be trying to return to the decider after a disappointing exit in the quarter-finals last year.

One man who has seen plenty of all four sides remaining is Killybegs manager Pauric Bonner.

The Fishermen lost out in the preliminary quarter-finals to Naomh Conaill, but Bonner has taken in a wide variety of matches across the championship.

The Fintra side played beaten quarter-finalists, Termon, Kilcar, and Dungloe in the league phase, and took a keen eye on the matches over the weekend as eight became four.

“I’m really looking forward to these semi-finals, I’m not surprised by any of the teams in the final four. The game has opened up, and teams are still trying to figure it out.

“Teams that have been successful in the past have probably been struggling a little bit with the new rules.

“It has been a great championship, and the rules have really invigorated the games.

“Football is in a good position in the county, crowds are back, and people are talking about the game, and the streaming has really made a big difference for allowing people to get to see games. You couldn't have got to all the games last week the way they were set up.”

The first semi-final is between St Michael’s and Gaoth Dobhair on Saturday at 5pm in O’Donnell Park, while Naomh Conaill will meet Four Masters on Sunday at 4pm in the same venue.

St Michael’s had a relatively facile win over Sean MacCumhaills last Saturday in the quarter-finals, getting off to a flying start as they went seven clear before the Twin-Towns men registered a score.

And they kept their opponents at bay after that early onslaught, and from the quarter of an hour mark onwards, the deficit never went below that seven-point swing.

All-Star contender Michael Langan was at the forefront of that 0-26 to 0-15 win in O’Donnell Park, hitting ten points, while Carlos O’Reilly got five of his own as the men from the Bridge became the first side in the hat for the semi-final.

And they’ll meet the other side who went through on Saturday in Gaoth Dobhair, who got the better of Kilcar in Glenties by 0-16 to 1-10.

Ethan Harkin again was in fine form as he accounted for half of his team's scores as the Magheragallon men kept it tight in the first half and, with the wind to their backs after the break, powered ahead.

Both teams were defeated at the semi-final stage last year, but the Dunfanaghy men will be looking to make just their second ever Donegal SFC final, losing to Glenswilly in 2011.

Gaoth Dobhair are no strangers to the final, most recently losing out to Naomh Conaill in 2023, while their 15th and most recent win came in 2018, as they also won the Ulster title.

“I think this game is going to be an absolute cracker. St Michael’s and Gaoth Dobhair are two teams that I think are in really good shape and are well set up.

“I have been really impressed with St Michael’s all year to be honest.

“They’ve done really well in every game, they got caught the first day out against Sean MacCumhaills, but any team that can go to Glenties and win are definitely a good side.

“Glenties needed points that day as well.

“The job they done against MacCumhaills on Saturday was just awesome.

“Michael Langan is playing great stuff, Colin McFadden is flying, and Carlos O’Reilly seems to really be on his game this year, Eddie O’Reilly too. They seem to be in great shape defensively too, so there will be a real battle with Gaoth Dobhair.

“I’ve seen that Gaoth Dobhair side three or four times in the championship, and they are a seriously well drilled outfit.

“They’re doing enough. They should have beat MacCumhaills fairly well in Convoy, but they gave away two sloppy goals.

“It will take a good team to break them down. They gave away a couple of goal chances against Kilcar, but they were goal chances where the Kilcar forwards had men hanging off them, and they were under pressure to take them, so they aren’t being cut open.

“Rónán Mac Niallais has them very well organised, Dáire Ó Baoill is flying, Domhnall Mac Giolla Bhríde was very good against Kilcar, Ethan Harkin, on his day, can outshoot anybody. “Odhran Mac Niallais is pulling the strings and I’ve also been very impressed with the young fella in goals, Pádraig Mac Giolla Bhríde.

“They have depth in there and the players that come in are actually making an impact on the game as opposed to just.

“It’s a hard one to call, I would probably lean towards St Michael’s just because I think they’ll feel that they left it behind them last year in the semi-final.

“Martin McElhinney and Daniel McLaughlin have done a massive job with them because if you look at them two years ago, people were writing their epitaph, but they have come on stronger since then.

“And that is how fine the margins are now in the game. It’s about getting the structures in place and creating an environment where people want to play and train.

“Whether that was there before or not, it is definitely there now, and Rónán Mac Niallais seems to have done the same in Gaoth Dobhair. They have put a very good squad together.

“It’s one that could definitely go to extra-time, and it should be a cracking game between two sides who play good football.”

In Sunday’s semi-final, the rising Four Masters are into a first semi-final since 2012 after impressively seeing off last year’s finalists, Dungloe, by 0-20 to 0-10.

The Carrs, Seanán and Turlough, led the way, but an all-round impressive scoring performance from the youthful Tírchonaill Park men, who had 11 different scorers, has them back in the final four for the first time since losing out to Sunday’s opposition, Naomh Conaill, thirteen years ago.

That meeting ended 0-9 to 0-6 to the Glenties-based side, against what was a tired Four Masters side who had defeated Glenswilly three days previously in extra-time.

While none of that team are still around, two sons from that team are involved now in Shane Carr’s aforementioned sons.

In contrast, six of the victorious Naomh Conaill team from that semi-final played in the 2-12 to 2-11 comeback win over Termon, including Stephen McGrath, Anthony Thompson, Brendan McDyer, John O’Malley, Leo McLoone, and Dermot Molloy, while Jason Campbell was also in the squad for Sunday.

It’s a case of youth against experience and should make for an interesting battle on Sunday at 4pm.

“Termon went six up with a chance to palm the ball into the net, but they put it over the bar and after that I felt Naomh Conaill would still find a way to go and win the game, and they did.

“When Naomh Conaill played us (Killybegs), people had been writing them off all year, and they may be older, but they’re still an awesome outfit, and they just find a way to win games, which I have nothing but total admiration for.

“Max Campbell and Finnbarr Roarty drove them over the line on Sunday, and for two young fellas, it was brilliant. They went searching for the ball, and Max got the goal, and Finnbarr hit the point to win it.

“They’re two phenomenal players, and when you have players like that on your team, you always have a chance.

“Four Masters were pretty impressive against Dungloe, they went through the numbers, and Dungloe are a hard team to break down, but they did a job on them.

“They’re young and they probably lack a bit of that experience that Naomh Conaill have in abundance. Their only downfall at the moment is that they don’t have the reps in big games yet, but they definitely have the quality to win big games.

“They do have legs, and Naomh Conaill may be struggling a bit with the new game, given how successful they had been, but you would never write them off, and I would be leaning towards Naomh Conaill because of their experience.

“They’re an awesome outfit, and they find ways of winning games in games, they figure out on the pitch how to win.

“It might be a bit early for Four Masters, but no doubt they’ll be one of the forces coming forward in the next five to ten years if they can keep that group together.”

With reigning champions St Eunan’s lost out in the preliminary round to Termon, and Kilcar defeated by Gaoth Dobhair on Saturday, it left two of the ‘big four’ missing out, along with previous semi-finalists from recent years of Dungloe and Sean MacCumhaills also defeated at the last eight stage.

But the former Glenswilly boss, who guided the Páirc Naomh Columba men to the quarter-finals two years in a row, isn’t shocked at the makeup of the final four and expects another underdog to reach the final.

“I’m not surprised by the four teams that have gone through. St Eunan’s seemed to struggle this year from the start. The game against Kilcar, they just didn’t look like they had that energy from last year, and they went through the whole championship like that.

“I would lean towards St Michael’s because I think they are annoyed at themselves for last year, but I don’t think there will be anything in it.

“Then, for the experience and that never-say-die attitude, I think Naomh Conaill will win on Sunday.”