THE Ulster Final is this Sunday but we won’t see a sea of green and gold on the terraces this year.
We have grown accustomed in Donegal to heading off to the provincial final.
Since 2011, this is only the third time the county has not reached the final.
It’s disappointing but not everything always goes your way in football and Donegal will live to fight another day.
It’s Monaghan against Armagh in the decider and it’s a big game for both counties.
Monaghan have not won Ulster since they edged out Donegal in 2015.
You have to go back to 2008 since Armagh lifted the Anglo Celt Cup.
They won Sam in 2024 but you get a real sense that this current Armagh team is determined to win Ulster.
Monaghan have been the real surprise package this year.
After a poor league, people thought they were vulnerable against Cavan but they came through that.
They were under huge pressure against Derry but won that game in extra-time after memorable strikes from Jack McCarron and Rory Beggan.
That was a great triumph but you’d also be a bit fearful for Monaghan after watching it.
Derry were the dominant team and should have had the game out of sight. You’d imagine Armagh won’t be as generous.
Armagh have put up huge tallies in their last two games and the Farney side can’t allow them to get ahead.
They have to find a way to slow Armagh’s attacks and bring it down the stretch. If they can do that, Monaghan have the likes of Micheal Bannigan, Conor McCarthy, Dessie Ward, Beggan and McCarron who they will back to score.
We have seen favourites crumble before but Armagh are strong.
They have lost the last three Ulster Finals but I think this time they will land the Anglo Celt Cup.
Westmeath
Gaels in Donegal will be keeping a close eye on the Leinster Final on Sunday as Westmeath take on Dublin.
Kilcar’s Mark McHugh is in charge of Westmeath and they have had a brilliant championship so far.
Mark coached the Lake county last year and stepped up to bainisteoir this season and is getting an excellent response from his team.
They have taken out Meath and Kildare and now want to win the Leinster title for only the second time.
The loss of Luke Loughlin to injury is huge and it’s interesting that it has been reported that John Heslin returned to training last weekend.
Heslin is classy player and was the leading man for Westmeath for a long time.
You can see why he would be persuaded to come back but it’s a big step up from club training to inter-county matches and I can’t see him featuring this week.
Dublin were excellent against Louth and looked angry at times.
But there has been a lack of consistency to their football all year.
Mark and Westmeath will be hoping the Dubs don’t bring their best to Croke Park and if that happens you never know how it might play out.
Dublin weren’t happy with how they let Leinster slip last year and I think they probably will have too much for Westmeath on Sunday.
Roscommon
It’s been a big week in Roscommon following their Connacht Championship success over Galway.
They scored the last eight points to land the Nestor Cup and there were brilliant scenes after the match.
It’s been a great year for Roscommon football and they have won Connacht titles at minor, under 20 and seniors now.
They played a fast and vibrant style of football last week and scored some great goals.
Galway came back at them hard in the second half and Damien Comer made a huge impact.
For twenty minutes they were excellent and showed why they are so highly-rated.
However, they have an issue with their goalkeeper. They are chopping and changing and the reason for that is none of their options are top level.
Galway will have to try and do something because when you look at Comer, Shane Walsh, Sean Kelly, Matthew Tierney, Cillian McDaid and John Maher they have great players but you feel they have to strike this year.
Roscommon will see nothing to fear in this championship and fair play to Mark Dowd, who is a good steady head on the line.
Their next game is against Tyrone and they will want to back this up.
Kerry
Kerry claimed their 87th Munster title last Sunday with a comfortable victory over Cork.
Donegal people were looking at the match wondering how Kerry are shaping up and the big thing to take away was the number of injuries they have.
Joe O’Connor, Shane Ryan, Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Paul Murphy, Sean O’Shea, Tom O’Sullivan and Graham O’Sullivan were among those that didn’t even tog.
Paul Geaney pulled out before the match, Paudie Clifford went off at half-time while Sean O’Brien and Mike Breen also picked up knocks.
Now Kerry have a strong panel and even without those players they still won well.
Cork started nicely but Kerry were in touch at the break and defended very well.
David Clifford scored a brilliant goal and he’s just so hard to stop.
But I think Donegal will have seen plenty of opportunities from the game.
You’d imagine some of those who have been carrying knocks will be back but not all. If you’re not even making a bench two weeks out, then it’s a big jump to starting a match.
The key one for me is Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan. We all saw how good he was in the All-Ireland Final last year.
Shane Murphy is a decent deputy but Donegal put him under real pressure in the League Final and Cork had joy as well.
Kerry will be working hard on kick-outs if Ryan doesn’t make it back in time.
The travel will be tough on the players but I think Donegal will really look forward to this match.
They were off the pace against Down and that was a reality check.
But they’ll be working hard at training this week to make sure they are ready to go for Saturday week.
Tailteann Cup
Fermanagh had a good win over Longford on Sunday in the Tailteann Cup.
It was a tricky game for us and Longford were tough opponents.
However, we managed to come through it and we feel we are making progress.
While we lost well against Armagh, there were positives to take from it.
We went into the winners’ side of the draw and were paired with Wexford who had a comfortable victory over Limerick.
The big thing you want is a home draw and we are glad to get it.
Wexford beat us in the league in the first game and we were disappointed that day not to win.
Wexford went on to win promotion to Division 2 but I think both teams have improved and it should be a good game in Round 2.
Down play their first game in the Tailteann Cup this week and they will be frustrated they aren’t in the race for Sam.
But the easiest way to make sure they are in 2027 is to win the Tailteann Cup this year.
That won’t be easy and Leitrim manager Steven Poacher is from Down which is an interesting subplot this weekend.
Minors
A week can be a long time in football.
The Donegal minor team produced a great display against Down and were well on the way to a comfortable victory when mother nature got in the way and the rain led to a water-logged pitch.
The sides had to meet again one week later and Down were much improved. They were in control in the second half but Donegal battled back to make the quarter-finals.
It was a good result for Karl Lacey and his team and shows the character they have.
They now have a home quarter-final against Monaghan.
The Farney side won the Ulster Minor League and are a good team.
They beat Donegal in the league so they won’t fear the journey to Convoy but there wasn’t much between the teams that day and hopefully it will go the way of Lacey’s side this time.