WE are down to the last eight here in Donegal with the so-called big four all still standing.

The championship has been in full swing here over the last number of weeks with games coming thick and fast and as a player that’s exactly what you want. All the hard training has been banked, it’s just a case of playing and recovering now week-by-week as we reach the business end of things.

At the start of the championship I laid out the favorites for this year’s championship and it’s pretty much still as I predicted heading down the home straight. The top four of Gaoth Dobhair, Naomh Conaill, St Eunan’s and Kilcar are all still standing but none have been really been tested as of yet, but that should change this weekend.

If you speak to anyone here in Donegal they will tell you that the quarter-finals are a foregone conclusion and they are already talking about the mouth-watering clashes that could happen in the semi-finals.

Anyone that has been around the game for as long as I have will tell you that this is never the case. I fully expect one upset at the weekend and our sole job is to make sure that it doesn’t involve us!

At this stage Naomh Conaill are probably everyone’s out and out favourites having easily overcome all their opponents in the group stages.

Kilcar play St Micheal’s in what people see as the tie of the round and it should be an interesting battle.

We played St Micheal’s last weekend and they are a well organised outfit and under the guidance of Gary O’Neill, who is a brother of Tyrone legend Stephen, you can be sure they will give it a proper rattle.

With home advantage you would expect Kilcar to have too much for them, especially with how they are playing at the minute, but if St Micheal’s can keep the goals out you just never know.

The other game on Saturday sees last year’s winners Naomh Conaill clash with the same opponents that they faced at this stage last year, Glenfin.

Glenfin have shown promise this season with a few young players coming to the fore but it will be a tough ask against a well-drilled Naomh Conaill team. They should have too much firepower for them but I expect Glenfin to show an improvement from last year.

On Sunday St Eunan’s play Bundoran and, again, the bookmakers will tell you that Eunan’s are raging-hot favourites. This young Bundoran side have no fear though and will fancy their chances of causing an upset. St Eunan’s will be without the injured Conor Morrison, which is a big blow, so the task will be a little harder than first expected.

We will also have to wait until Sunday to get our quarter-final underway when we face off against MacCumhaill’s.

We faced each other in the last group game two weeks ago and there was a bit of shadow-boxing but in straight knockout battle the gloves will be off for both teams.

MacCumhaill’s, under the guidance of Paul Rouse and Joe McKelvey, are very well organised defensively and they have some very dangerous forwards so our defence will have a torrid time of it. We have slowly grown into the championship this year but now it’s time for every team to ramp it up.

For all teams it was all about getting out of the group and into the quarters. Now that we are here it’s time now to start producing your best as there are no second chances from here on in.

From this point it’s all about who can get their timing right and also get the rub of the green with injuries, etc. A suspension or an injury or two could derail your whole season so it’s important to have a strong panel to be able to absorb these setbacks.

All over Ulster, club championships are cranking up and I think it’s a special time of year. The county scene is great and all that but there is something extra special about club championships and especially this year given everything that has happened.

As the club scene heats up even more in every county, you will have upsets, controversy and drama and that is what it’s all about. Big teams will be caught by teams that no one gave a chance to and this is something we just don’t get with county football.

We now have more TV coverage from both RTÉ and TG4 so we now get a chance to see some of those clashes live. I have had the opportunity to cover both the Down and Tyrone Championships so far this season and I loved every minute of it.

Last weekend we covered the Trillick and Killyclogher game with TG4 and everyone knows how that ended up. The game was end-to-end with some fantastic scores and individual displays. All in all it was a great advertisement for club football.

RTÉ are to show the two semi-finals finals in Tyrone this Saturday and TG4 are to show the Roscommon Championship on Sunday, which is just excellent. I’m sure Gaels all over Ireland will be tuning in.

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