DONEGAL eased into the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final after a dominant win over Down at Pairc Esler at the weekend and I suppose the game went as expected.

Declan Bonner’s side flew out of the blocks with Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty and Ryan McHugh all hitting early scores as they raced into an early lead.

Down kept in touch but that was mostly down to the free-taking ability of chief score-getter Barry O’Hagen.

I wrote here last week that I felt Donegal would have too much firepower for Down and that is exactly how things played out.

Donegal lost talisman Michael Murphy to what looked like a precautionary switch but his replacement Jamie Brennan ensured there was no let off in terms of Donegal’s scoring threat.

So the big talk this week will be around whether Michael Murphy would be ready in time to face the stiffer challenges that lie ahead.

Derry in Celtic Park would have been a tough challenge, but the fact that Ballybofey will host the game means that there may be a possibility that Declen Bonner could rest Michael for the game to potentially have him 100 percent fit for their semi-final clash.

One major positive for me is that during Michael’s time on the sidelines Patrick McBrearty has really stepped up to the plate. The question has always been asked how would Donegal fare without Micheal Murphy and you would have to say that Patrick has shown tremendous leadership qualities over the last number of weeks.

If Donegal can get Micheal back to full fitness and Patrick keeps up his good form, then things look very bright for this Donegal team.

Declen Bonner will be happy that they have come through their first game with relative ease and he will hope that he can get all of us key man back on the training pitch this week.

This season is all about how you manage your injuries and how fresh you can keep your squad as the games will be coming thick and fast so the key for Declan is to keep his key men on the pitch and get his injured players back as soon as he can.

Stiffer tests will lie ahead and no doubt Rory Gallagher will have his troops well primed for this Donegal task but they will be happy with their weekend’s work.

From a Down point of you it’s bound to be bitterly disappointing given the fact that there is no second chance this year so for those players the whole season ended last weekend.

I understand where we find ourselves at the moment in terms of the pandemic and the resulting time-frames and restrictions that surround daily life but to train for the whole year to play one championship game doesn’t quite make sense.

Elsewhere last weekend Kerry put Clare to the sword and Mayo humiliated Sligo and now all of those defeated teams will be asking themselves this week if it was all worth the effort. This weekend championship ramps up a notch or two with some big clashes here in Ulster.

I am particularly looking forward to the Armagh versus Antrim game as I’m interested to see how this resurgent Antrim team will do when they lock horns with an Armagh team who themselves have been making a little noise of late.