By Niall Gartland

TYRONE minor manager Gerard Donnelly is expecting a “5050 contest” when they take on Donegal in Saturday’s winner-takes-all Ulster Championship semi-final at Celtic Park.

The safety net of the backdoor no longer applies at this stage of the provincial series, so Tyrone will have to produce a strong performance if they’re to maintain their hopes of defending their Ulster title.

They actually beat Donegal in last year’s decider, but there’s been a considerable transition on both teams.

Of more relevance is their form-lines in this competition with Tyrone claiming deserved wins over Cavan and Antrim, while their opponents booked their place in the last eight with a goal-heavy 4-12 to 3-7 win victory of Monaghan at the weekend, moving on from a prior defeat to Derry.

The Ulster final will be played as the curtain-raiser to the senior showdown between Donegal and Derry in a fortnight’s time – and there’s no room for complacency for either team.

Donnelly said: “This is winner-takes-all. Donegal would love to join their seniors in the final so it’s a real 5050 contest and it could come down to the last 10 minutes, so we’ll need to be mentally prepared for a battle.

“We saw Donegal against Monaghan and they were very, very impressive. They were 16 points up against 25 minutes, they’re a big, strong physical team with plenty of top footballers so it’s going to be a really tough game.”

The Red Hands booked their spot in the semi-finals with resounding 3-17 to 1-5 victory over Antrim nearly a fortnight ago in Belfast. It wasn’t quite a total walkover as the Saffrons battened down the hatches and made life difficult for the Tyrone forwards for a 20-minute spell in the first half.

Donnelly said: “There’s always things you can do better, and there was a long stretch in that game where it was a competitive match. There were times they got on top of us and we had to defend. There were things we could’ve done better against a blanket defence. There’s always learnings to take and it was a really good game for spells. You definitely never take an Ulster Championship win for granted.”

The Stewartstown clubman also said he was delighted for the seven players of last year’s minor panel who were part of the Tyrone u-20 team which defeated Kildare in Saturday’s All-Ireland final. They lost last year’s minor showdown by a point so it was a particularly special moment for the likes of Ruairi McHugh.

“I’m absolutely delighted for them all, but particularly the seven lads (Michael Rafferty, Ruairi McHugh, Gavin Potter, Cormac Devlin, Shea O’Hare, Ronan Donnelly and Ronan Fox). It was heartbreaking for them last year and for them to come back and win their All-Ireland was lovely for the lads, especially big Ruairi McHugh who lost a MacRory final as well.

“It was lovely for the lads and I texted them before and after every match, they’re really good lads and I’m delighted for them and the whole management team. We saw the amount of work they put when we were in Garvaghey at the same time and their hard work has definitely paid off.”