KEVIN CASSIDY: The battle to join Donegal

WE were treated to a proper Ulster Championship clash last weekend when Donegal locked horns with Monaghan.

As for the game itself, it went along the lines of how I thought it pan out with Donegal just having a little too much in the end up.

At times in the game, Monaghan caused Donegal some problems and they will have a lot to look over as they now prepare for the All-Ireland series.

We saw enough in Division Two this year to suggest that Monaghan could make a game of it. In saying that, I pointed out last week when you make errors in Division Two you are rarely punished as severely as you are when you face a Division One outfit. For me, that’s how the game went last Sunday.

I am sure when the Monaghan players and management sit down to review the game, there are areas that they will not be happy with. For them, they now have a challenge. They can get their teeth into improving in these areas before they face another Division One opposition when the All-Ireland series rolls around in a few weeks’ time.

Donegal, on the other hand, will be relatively happy with their performance. They travelled to Clones to face a Monaghan team high in confidence. The long and short of it, they got the job done and they are now in the semi-final.

Donegal’s strength in depth played a big part last weekend, with a number of the subs having a positive impact on the game. That will please Jim McGuinness as he starts to head towards the business end of the season.

Donegal now face Down this weekend. Without being disrespectful to Conor Laverty, he has made great progress in Down since his arrival but I just can’t see any way that Down can hurt this Donegal machine.

Donegal are gathering momentum week on week, so I fully expect them to book their place in the Ulster final this weekend.

We will also find out who they will face in next month’s decider on Saturday when old rivals Armagh and Tyrone lock horns once again.

It’s easy for me to say this as an outsider looking in, but it has been a bit of a mixed bag for both of these camps all season. For me, it will be really interesting to see how they perform at the weekend.

Armagh are coming off the back of their fantastic win last season. To say that the road has been a little bumpy this year would be an understatement.

Their season has been so disjointed so much so, that, for the first time in as long as I can remember the reigning All-Ireland champions have rarely been spoken about in terms of who might contest for the big prize this year.

When anyone is asked for their top three, Armagh rarely even enter into the conversation. That just tells you how difficult their season has been to date.

You could argue that Tyrone have actually mirrored Armagh’s season this year, because, from the start of the National League, their performances have been all over the shop.

When Malachy O’Rourke was appointed, there was a lot of optimism within the county and indeed outside the county. Then, he had the Errigal lads missing and a few other injuries and their season just took a while to get going.

This game for me is massive for both of these teams because if one team has a bad performance it could prove very difficult to get their season back on track.

I said earlier I fully expect Donegal to be in the decider, but I’m torn on who might join them. Armagh are further ahead in terms of development and experience but with Tyrone you just never know what to expect.

I will go with Armagh based on the fact that there must be a lot of hurt and frustration in there, given how they are being written off this year. I’ll go for Armagh by three.

Check out this week’s podcast with Brendan Devenney and Steven McDonnell, looking ahead to this weekend’s Ulster SFC semi-finals.