By Michael McMullan

DONEGAL didn’t want to be playing on Sunday but Shane O’Donnell accepts it as the hand they’ve been dealt.

In one way, it’s the prize of being in the shake up for Sam. A winter of grind would’ve been plotting towards now and, hopefully, the weeks to follow.

In another, in what is now the cutting edge of the season, where fixtures are dropped in week on week, the prize for topping top spot in the group becomes apparent.

When Peter Harte’s two-pointer sunk Donegal in Ballybofey, the automatic quarter-final spot was out of their own control.

A win over Cavan put them back on the horse ahead of a week off before three weeks that will sort the contenders for Sam from the also rans.

For Donegal, step one took them to ‘the Hyde’ to face Mayo on Sunday. There were twists and turns until the Ulster champions pushed into a 0-9 to 0-6 interval lead.

A rare Michael Murphy mistake led to Mayo sniffing their opportunity. They were rampant and David McBrien’s goal left Donegal reaching for the spade again.

Could they dig themselves out again? Murphy shrugged it off. Dáire Ó Baoill thumped a two pointer.

Shane O’Donnell kicked a point and thanks to Patton’s saves, Donegal were still in relative control.

He looked on as St Eunan’s teammates Patton and Ciarán Moore combined for the dramatic last, gasp winner. Patton’s missile. Moore’s afterburners. Over the bar it went.

“It was definitely a boost,” Moore said of the manner of Sunday’s win. “It’s good to be winning games because you’re going to need that confidence and that momentum now, leading up to the big weeks ahead.”

After a trek home, a night’s sleep and kicking off the recovery, O’Donnell’s first reaction to Monday morning’s draw was simple.

One word – Ballybofey. Thankfully they were at home. The joys of second place, Patton’s saves and dampening any Mayo ambush hopes.

Had they finished third, they’d have been on the road again this weekend.

At home, Donegal can plan everything. It’s just different. It has worked all year. What time to meet in Convoy before and after, the length of the journey.

“I suppose the other thing was that it was going to be a tough challenge either way, it doesn’t matter who we were against,” said O’Donnell, in the early days of his summer holidays as a teacher in Raphoe’s Deele College.

“With Louth being Leinster champions, they are going to have a lot of confidence from that and will look to build on the momentum they got from last week with the result over Clare.”

O’Donnell is one of Donegal’s nailed on starters. He is the glue that links back to front. When the Ulster final hung in the balance, he was still directing traffic, all the way to his brother Niall’s winner. It was the same against Mayo.

He scored two points in their league win over Louth last season and played a central role in victory over the Wee County in last summer’s All-Ireland quarter-final. He knows what to expect.

There is a recollection of both games being shoot outs, but the St Eunan’s man is expecting a big task on Sunday.

“We’re going to have to do a lot of work for it but again we’re going to have to just appreciate the next couple of days especially,” he said, speaking from Tuesday’s All-Ireland launch in Dublin.

“We’ll focus on whatever comes after that. It’s going to be a big challenge for both of us after winning Ulster and Leinster. Louth is going to be a big game for us and we’re not going to undervalue them in any form.”

Donegal retained their Ulster title but with the All-Ireland group stages in the rearview mirror, 12 teams remain in the hunt for the most precious piece of silverware they can win.

After beating Louth at Croke Park in the All-Ireland quarter-final, Donegal’s chance of a third All-Ireland was close out by Galway. For Louth and Donegal, Sunday’s prize is a ticket to the last eight.

“It’s going to be a big one now,” O’Donnell summed up. “We’re both going to be going at it very hard now in order to get to that quarter-final spot.

“It’s probably somewhere we would have liked to have been already but unfortunately that’s not the way it panned out so we just have to play the cards that are dealt.

“We’re hoping now for a big result now and to get back to the Croke Park like we did last year after a long, long time. We’re looking forward to Sunday now.”