Mac's View: Big weekend for Donegal with all roads leading to Clones

We have a big weekend coming up for Jim McGuinness and Donegal as we all head to Clones for the Ulster final against Armagh on Sunday.

And by all accounts Donegal will have a huge support. I’ve been talking to Co. Administrator, Noreen Doherty, and she tells me that there is a huge demand for tickets. There is a whole new set of supporters coming on board thanks to the success that has come in such a short time under Jim McGuinness.

It could well be the biggest crowd at an Ulster final in Clones for some time. Armagh traditionally carry a very big support as well but it seems as if we could well match them this weekend, which is great news.

On a more serious note we will go into the game as slight favourites, probably because of the couple of encounters we have had with them over the last few months. But some of those games had a bit of shadow boxing about. However, I still think we have too much for them

I don’t know what’s the story about Eobhan Ban Gallagher, but apart from the Killybegs man we are  likely to be playing with a full deck.

Hopefully the ‘keeper, Shaun Patton, will be ready to  go again. Gavin Mulreany did very well when thrown in against Tyrone but Patton has an extra dimension to his game and he can cause the opposition to have sleepless nights.

Overall, we have had a fairly settled side since the start of the championship. The new midfield has settled in well with the Cloughaneely man, Jason McGee coming to the fore and he is a big addition. He is forming a great partnership with Michael Langan, another big man.

The full-back Brendan McCole is back once more and the half-back line of Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle and Peadar Mogan are as good as you will find anywhere in the country.

Hopefully, the captain, Patrick McBrearty, is fully fit and ready for action. And of course our own Jamie Brennan here in Bundoran will be making his 100th appearance for Donegal, a pretty good milestone.

We all know what Armagh will bring to the table. They will be physical and fairly defensive. Their best player is Rian O’Neill but there is a lot of individuality about him. He plays for himself but he is strong and can take a score. 

I would rate his brother, Oisin, quite highly but for some reason they don’t seem to start him.

I’m sure Jim will have legislated for all outcomes and I wish him and the team well on Sunday.

My advice to people travelling is to get there early, get fed and watered and then make plenty of noise in supporting Donegal. The weather forecast at the moment is good up to Saturday but it could change on Sunday.

As regards memories of games against Armagh, there are some good and bad ones. We would have had some tough games against them in the early 1980s and some that we didn’t fare well in. In 1982 they kicked a point from a sideline to defeat us in Ballybofey.

The following year Down and Armagh met in the Division 1 League final while ourselves and Fermanagh played in Ballyshannon to see which of us would end up in Division 4.

Then a few weeks later Fermanagh beat Down in the Ulster championship in Irvinestown and we beat Armagh in Ballybofey and went on to win the Ulster tit.e

1984 was the year of the hamstrings in Donegal. We lost Paul McGettigan and a week before the championship we had a game with Sligo and we lost Martin McHugh and Mickey Lafferty that evening. Then in the game in the Athletic Grounds Seamus Bonar missed a penalty and we had Tommy McDermott sent off. I had taken Gerry Curran with me on the morning for cover and he almost won the game for us. But it was a day that anything that could go wrong went wrong.

We had a better day in 1990 in the Ulster final when they had the big Grimleys, one at centre-half and one at midfield. I had taken Martin  Griffin and Mickey Lafferty back to the panel to train with those two in mind but we didn’t need them on the day.

But back to this Sunday, again I urge supporters to get there early. There is a great buzz about at the minute with a whole new bunch of support. I would urge them to get behind their own team and not indulge in any booing of the opposition.

I want to wish Mickey McCann and the hurlers all the best on Saturday in the Nickey Rackard Cup when they travel to Roscommon. A win there would leave them looking at a final.

Congratulations to Barry Ward and his minors on a great win over Monaghan in Ballyshannon last week and they can now look forward to an Ulster semi-final.

Congratulations also to Kilcar on winning the Gaeltacht competition on Monday.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell