AFTER three heavy weeks, the Donegal players will enjoy the chance to catch a breather this weekend ahead of the All-Ireland semi-finals.

There are only four teams left standing in the competition, and only three games to go.

Donegal are still in the mix and their panel is holding up well after what has already been a long journey.

The Monaghan game last week was a tough one and that was expected.

With the exception of the Louth game last year which we were always comfortable in, history tells us over the last 25 seasons or so that the quarter-final stage is not an easy one to navigate.

You have a lot of quality teams meeting and throwing their lot at it.

If you think back to 2011, we needed extra-time to beat Kildare and the following season, there was a tense win over Kerry. In 2014, we were heavy favourites against Armagh, but just came through by a point.

Good teams ask questions of you and Donegal had plenty to consider as they made their way to the dressing rooms at half-time last Saturday.

Their first half performance was just a bit laboured. There were cheap enough turnovers down the field. And in defence, Donegal were getting some pressure on Monaghan’s attackers, just not enough.

The Farney side went with a strong press on Shaun Patton’s kick-outs and for 15 minutes, he found himself under pressure. That proved to be a recurring theme over the weekend for most of the top goalkeepers on show.

With all kick-outs having to go out past the 40 metre arc, there’s less space to hit and it’s harder to get the ball away through the lines.

Some of Shaun’s restarts were just a very small fraction off while his teammates didn’t help him hugely with the Monaghan goal.

In fairness to Shaun, I wouldn’t swap him for any goalkeeper left in the competition. He didn’t panic and got some brilliant kick-outs away in the second half.

Seven points down wasn’t a great place to be at half-time but the breeze was a factor.

It was important that Donegal got going quickly and even winning the throw-up when you’re behind like that is important.

Donegal got the first three points and even though Monaghan came back after that, you could just sense that the team had gone up a level.

There was one move where Shane O’Donnell was able to race straight down the middle of the Monaghan defence and pop over and you could sense then that Donegal were building momentum.

I think Donegal still would have gone on to win the match even if they didn’t get the goal, but Michael Langan’s strike was outstanding.

It was a big day for Michael as he made his 100th appearance for the county team.

I worked with Michael for many years and for me he is as good as any midfielder out there.

Conor O’Donnell and Shane O’Donnell were superb and Donegal kept the scoreboard ticking.

Monaghan had some good shooters but they couldn’t get going in the second half.

I don’t blame them for taking on two-point efforts late on as they needed to get a way back into the game but every miss seemed to deflate their supporters even more.

Finnbarr Roarty and Brendan McCole were steady at the back and Donegal got a huge lift from their bench.

Jason McGee was able to put in his best performance of the year so far while Daire Ó Baoill was sharp.

Patrick McBrearty showed great leadership as well. He backed himself to kick two good points but worked hard and was in his own defence collecting a block down shot at one stage.

All in all, it was a very good second half performance and that augers well going forward but the management will probably want just that extra bit of consistency throughout the performance.

Jim Gavin

I would imagine when Jim Gavin and the Football Review Committee are sitting watching the games these days, they must be delighted with how things played out.

Their changes have improved the game massively as a spectacle.

Now they probably have been helped by the fact that a lot of teams are around a similar level.

But you have to commend them for the vision they showed, and there is just so much excitement these days.

Not every game is going to be a classic and Tyrone v Dublin certainly wasn’t but it was still close and you didn’t know how it was going to go.

Dublin really missed Con O’Callaghan and they just aren’t the same team without him.

The Dubs just didn’t seem to have the two-point shooters and I feel in time you’re just going to have to have a few of those players on your team.

Tyrone left a lot of chances behind them but they were ravenous in the tackle in the second half.

Eoin McElholm is a young player who is starting to make his mark and Tyrone will fancy their chances from here on.

Dessie Farrell called it a day as Dublin manager. He can hold his head up high with two All-Ireland wins but it just didn’t go their way this year.

With Ger Brennan stepping away from Louth, he looks the prime contender now but there is rebuilding to be done in Dublin.

There may also be somewhat of a transition in Armagh after their reign as All-Ireland champions came to an end against Kerry.

Armagh went into the game as strong favourites but even though they led by a point at the break, they were second best.

They did have a good start to the second half but then Kerry just took over.

Ethan Rafferty was being talked up as the best ‘keeper in the land before the match but they just couldn’t get their hands on the ball from his restarts.

And for such an experienced team, they didn’t have the cool heads to take the sting out of it.

Kerry scored 14 points on the trot which was remarkable and the shooting of Seanie O’Shea and David Clifford was immense.

Meath caused the big surprise of the weekend when they took out Galway.

They were good value for it as well and Galway just didn’t do enough.

They couldn’t handle Jordan Morris and Matthew Costello who were nothing short of exceptional.

That said it was Johnny McGrath losing the ball so close to goal which led to the Morris goal and that was massive.

It’s hard to put the finger on where it all went wrong for Galway this season.

Yes Damien Comer’s fitness issues were massive and they had a very tough route.

However somewhere in the middle, Padraic Joyce started to change his goalkeeper and take off key men like Matthew Tierney and Dylan McHugh and I don’t think that helped the team.

Semi-Finals

I had a man telling me on Monday morning that he would rather Donegal had got Kerry in the semi-final in the draw.

His thinking was that the Kingdom still had injuries and would never be able to replicate that second half performance again in back-to-back outings.

I see the point but I think I’m happy enough to see Tyrone and Kerry go all out to war once again.

Meath will be a tough semi-final for Donegal as they are coming with a lot of confidence.

They have taken out Dublin, Cork, Kerry, and Galway this year and they’ll see no reason why they can’t add Donegal to that list.

They’ll look at what worked well for Monaghan on Saturday and will probably feel they have a stronger panel to call upon.

It’s really important that the Donegal players block out the outside noise.

There’s people saying they are favourites to go through to the final.

And others want to talk about who might be an All-Star or Footballer of the Year.

Most of those calls are made after the biggest games of the year anyway and you just don’t want to get distracted at this stage.

Donegal were at the semi-finals last year and just came up short so they know how difficult it is to get over the line.

Meath are young and vibrant and they will pose questions. The Royal county will also bring a huge following – we saw that for the Leinster Final. They will make their way to Hill 16 and bring plenty of noise.

It will be a sea of green and gold regardless but I think it’s vital that Donegal supporters get behind the team and make sure they have their tickets for the match.

That support could make all the difference if the game is in the melting pot in the closing moments.