Mac's View: We will have to start well and keep driving to the finish against Armagh

The big day is almost upon us and the interest has gone up a few more gears this week with news that the Armagh suspensions have been lifted.

And given that Donegal did not appeal the suspensions of Odhrán McFadden Ferry and Neil McGee, there is surely an injustice in the system.

There was news this week too that Oisin Gallen will not be available because of injury and that's a pity as he is a great talent.
Armagh have a player injured, one of the 'suspended' trio, Ciaran Mackin, who did not appeal the proposed one-match ban picked up following the scenes in Letterkenny.

It was always a game that one had to be wary of and even more so now that Armagh are back almost to full strength. They are a good side and they showed that in their first outing in the league this year in Croke Park against a good enough Dublin side.

They play a lot of diagonal football, similar to what the successful Armagh team back in manager Kieran McGeeney's day were playing, angling ball from one side to the other. They put Dublin under a lot of pressure that night in Croke Park and I'm sure they will be planning a similar strategy against Donegal on Sunday.

We have to be wary of that and it doesn't help that the two Gaoth Dobhair men are missing. McFadden Ferry has the pace to cover.

Not knowing what is happening at the Donegal training, we will probably be forced to play Michael Langan. He is not going to get match fit sitting on the sideline. It is going to be a tight game and McGeeney will have the Armagh boys well tutored and up for the match. And knowing Armagh well, they will  have plenty of self belief in themselves.

McShea's Say: 10 things Donegal must to do beat Armagh

Donegal's 1974 Ulster SFC winning captain is optimistic Declan Bonner's side can get past the challenge of Armagh on Sunday if they play to their capabilities

But we have players enough and team enough to win the game. We just need to be on the ball from the very start, not giving them a foothold. We have Maurice Deegan as referee and the players should be used to him as we have had him quite a number of times including our All-Ireland win in 2012.

People are talking about the after-match stuff in the league clash in O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny the last day but I don't think there will be a huge amount of contention. 

I know there was a fracas, but I don't there will be any overflow from that; it was just a lot of pushing and shoving really.

The one thing I would stress is that we need to make sure we don't start slowly. We have to put them under pressure and we have the firepower up front to convert. Hopefully we will see Michael Murphy play inside on the edge of the square. We need to get him isolated in there. He went up front a few times in Letterkenny against Armagh but we didn't get any ball into him.

I would get him in early and with the right ball very few are able to get the ball off him. He is big and strong and hard to contain. Jamie Brennan is back to himself and Patrick McBrearty is in great form at the right time. We probably won't have the three of them in there at one time, but definitely two and they are all scorers.

That is why we need Michael Langan restored to the half-forward line as he can be deadly as well.

We've  been patchy in some games this year but it is a matter of putting it all together on Sunday. They will take the game to us at times, but we have to ready for that.  If Rian O'Neill is getting quality ball, he will not  be easy to contain. We have to make sure that the supply to him will be cut off.

It is a game I'm really looking forward to. There should be a full house and I would urge the Donegal support to get there early and be vocal. They will be our 16th man. All the players have to act as leaders and not let it be one or two to carry the team. There is plenty of leadership quality in the panel.

The weather forecast for Sunday is good so the ground should be ready. We have all this week to get the pitch in perfect condition.

MINORS AND HURLERS

It is a big weekend too for our minor footballers who begin their Ulster championship campaign with a home game against Fermanagh who defeated Down in Brewster Park, Enniskillen on Saturday. The game is in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey on Saturday.

Down seem to be at a low ebb at county level with discipline in the senior camp a problem last weekend. It is very unlike them.

Good luck to the Donegal hurlers who are on a roll in the Nickey Rackard Cup with wins over Fermanagh and Armagh and they should be good enough to defeat Roscommon on Saturday in O'Donnell Park.

1992 TEAM

It is 30 years this year since our first All-Ireland win and the panel are having a get-together to coincide with the game on Sunday, going to support Donegal in Ballybofey and meeting for a meal afterwards, which should bring back some great memories.

Best of luck to all the Donegal teams at the weekend.