Monaghan will be a completely different challenge - McGuinness

After accounting for Derry in the preliminary round of the Ulster Senior Championship, Donegal must travel to St Tiernach's Park, Clones on Sunday to take on Monaghan in their own backyard in the quarter-final (2.00 pm)

The game will be the last of the quarter-finals with the winners playing either Fermanagh or Down (who meet on Saturday evening in Brewster Park, Enniskillen) in the semi-final.

Donegal accounted for Derry by 1-25 to 1-15 and will have to reach similar scoring stats according to Donegal boss, Jim McGuinness, if they  are to prevail.

He was fully aware of the threat posed by the Farney men, who have had a three week break after defeating Roscommon in the Allianz National League Division 2 final in Croke Park. It is manager Gabriel Bannigan's first year in charge and they won that league final by 1-26 to 0-19.

"We have to go to Monaghan - a team that's tapping maybe 1-26, 1-27 every day - playing with serious fluidity, scoring power and running power. It's going to be a completely different challenge for us," said McGuinness.

McGuinness has tasted success and failure against Monaghan in the championship, losing to them in the 2013 Ulster final before avenging that defeat in the final a year later.

“Monaghan don’t fear us,” McGuinness said. “It’s the same way Derry didn’t fear us. Monaghan can feel if they look back through their record against Donegal, that they can do this. 

“We can’t control that. We have to just focus on ourselves and find a way to try and win this game.

“We’ve got to work out what Monaghan do and how to combat that. Every game is different with a completely different set of variables.”

Monaghan will be without their star man of former years, Conor McManus, who stepped away at the end of last year and is now a pundit with the BBC. 

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s game McManus feels Monaghan are looking forward to the game.

“I know the Monaghan lads will be looking forward to it,” McManus told the GAA Social.

“They are coming into it with confidence from the League campaign they’ve had but they are also coming in and playing the form team in the country probably. Donegal were the best team in the League in the first three or four games.

“Monaghan have been playing lower standard teams in Division 2, so this is the best team they will have played in a long time. 

“So, it’s a big ask. It’s a big task but in Clones they will be looking forward to it.

“I do expect it to be a decent game and Monaghan have a decent record against Donegal over recent years.

“I am fairly sure that’s something Donegal and Jim McGuinness will be honing in on this record that’s so well talked about. They’ll want to put that record straight themselves,” said McManus.