Brian McEniff: Donegal must be careful against a steadily improving Armagh

We have been handed a very good draw in the Ulster championship for next year with the most important part being that we have a home game.

However, it is also a very tough assignment. If people think Armagh will be a pushover, then they are badly wrong. You would hope that MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey would be worth four or five points.

Armagh have improved steadily in recent years and from midfield up they are a very strong side with the O'Neills very prominent, big players who have the pedigree to perform on the big day.

Their defence has been their Achilles heel for a number of years but Kieran McGeeney has been working on that and I expect that with his promptings, they will get better. There were fewer better or more grittier defenders than McGeeney himself.

They gave Monaghan a real scare last year and probably should have won that Ulster semi-final. We will meet them beforehand in the league and that will be an interesting contest.

There is a great incentive for the winners, who will meet Cavan or Antrim. Given that Cavan were Ulster champions, at our expense, in 2020, you would expect that they would come through that game, but it might be closer than you think. Antrim have a management team of Tyrone men headed by Enda McGinley and they will want to prove their worth. You would expect Cavan to win but I would take nothing for granted.

Tyrone, the All-Ireland champions, have to make the trip to Brewster Park for the preliminary round and that will not be easy against Fermanagh. If they come through that they will have Derry at home in Healy Park, Omagh.

On the other side of the draw you would expect that Monaghan would be too good for Down. But then the Mourne men have Wee James McCartan back as manager and he has a good track record.

The interesting thing that happened this week was the announcement that All-Ireland winning hurling manager with Tipperary, Liam Sheedy, was joining Seamus Banty McEnaney's backroom team in Monaghan. It was a surprise announcement and is going to add to the excitement next summer. Roscommon have a hurling man in charge of their footballers for the last few years in Galway man Anthony Cunningham.

Monaghan went very close last year to toppling Tyrone in the Ulster final and they will feel that they are not far away. Sheedy is a winner and will add something to the Monaghan boys.

They have a lot of good young players coming through. And they always punch above their weight every year. They may be a small county, but they are hard to beat, full of spirit. Still you would have to think that Tyrone will make the Ulster final. They have quite a good squad.

So it will be up to Donegal to get the better of Armagh and then they can make the Ulster final also. They have to make MacCumhaill Park count. But they also need to be wary; remember when Antrim came to the venue and beat them not that long ago. There are no guarantees in the Ulster championship.

It is also going to be a completely different championship, starting at Easter and only a couple of weeks after the league is completed.

It will be good to see the Dr McKenna Cup back in January and we will be able to enjoy non-stop football from then on. I was happy to see the McKenna Cup restored. The games are much better than challenge games and I don't think the colleges will be involved. The only downside is that you are competing against Ulster teams again.

DOWNINGS

Congratulations to Downings on flying the Donegal flag in the Ulster Junior championship on Sunday, winning in Down, which is never easy. By all accounts Lorcan Connor was excellent for the Donegal champions.

They will play the Monaghan champions Sean McDermotts next on the weekend after next and they are just one step from an Ulster final. Good luck to our neighbours Erne Gaels who take on Moortown from Tyrone in Carrickmore on Sunday in the Intermediate championship quarter-final.

Here in Donegal we are preparing for the Annual County Convention and I'm told that it will be a quiet affair as regards votes, with just the assistant secretary post being contested. I see that Michael McGeehin is unopposed for the Coaching Officer role and he is well placed to do this job, with his vast experience.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell