ALL-IRELAND SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER-FINAL

Donegal v Dublin

Monday, Carrick-On-Shannon, 4pm

By Niall Gartland

THIS is the toughest test imaginable for the Donegal ladies – but it’s exactly where they want to be. Like their male counterparts, the Dublin ladies are the most successful team in the land, but if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.

Donegal had a fearsome battle against the Dubs in last year’s All-Ireland Championship, and only for the succession of a freak goal, who knows how that one could’ve panned out.

In an interview with Gaelic Life at the start of the season, Donegal player Nicole McLaughlin says that they took the positives from that game, rather than bemoaning their lack of luck.

She said they realised that they could compete with the Dubs, so they’ll be relishing the prospect of having another bash at them this weekend.

They’ll be in good spirits after their mightily impressive win over Kerry at the weekend. It was a must-win game, and while they trailed early on, they came good with 2-5 without reply either side of half time.

It was a superb all-round team performance, but a few players were particularly impressive – Geraldine McLaughlin (no surprise there), Katy Herron, Niamh McLaughlin, and Nicole McLaughlin, who did a superb marking job on Kerry threat Hannah O’Donoughue.

Dublin, meanwhile, won the Division One title this season – a competition they haven’t dominated to the same extent as the All-Ireland competition. In the championship, they finished top of their group with victories over Tyrone and Waterford, and they’ve been boosted this year by the return of Hannah Tyrrell, who left back in 2014 to play rugby.

Maxi Curran’s Donegal have been very good this season, and they’ll certainly not be lacking in motivation, but the Dubs aren’t four in-a-row All-Ireland champions for nothing. They’ll be hell bent on securing the five in-a-row, and if we go by their most recent outing, they’re just as good as ever. They dispatched Waterford with the minimum of fuss on a scoreline of 6-12 to 1-10, and the scary thing is, they had six different goal scorers.

Donegal won’t have the same inferiority complex against the Dubs that some teams have, but they’ll be realistic enough to know that they’ll need to produce the performance of a lifetime to get the result. They are in great form, and they’ve nothing to lose. Let’s just hope there’s no freak goals this time around.