Ulster Championship quarter-final

Donegal v Armagh

Sunday, Ballybofey, 2pm

By Shaun Casey

THE previous meeting between Armagh and Donegal ended with a brawl and the bad blood shared that day suits the Orchard County, according to Damien Diver.

“I remember after the last league game, even that hullabaloo at the end of it, everybody thought it played into Armagh’s hands because there’s no better team at using the siege mentality, us against them, than Armagh,” said the former Donegal defender.

“It’s going to be all hell for leather. I think Armagh will come in with a big point to prove. They let Donegal off the hook that day and then with the sting at the end of it as well, they’ll come in all guns blaring.

“It’ll be a very physical encounter and Donegal, hopefully, can match that. Kieran McGeeney’s teams will always be there or thereabouts physically, and they are brilliant at it too. We just have to match them in those stakes as well as the football stakes.”

The last decade has been hugely successful for Donegal since Jim McGuinness turned the side from also-rans into All-Ireland champions. In the ten years that have followed, there’s an air of expectation in Donegal.

“After the last decade, there’s always expectation in Donegal, whereas previous to Jim McGuinness, there probably wasn’t. We expect Donegal teams now to get to Ulster finals because they’re in them that regularly.

“But it just doesn’t come about that easy. The way the league went up and down a bit, we played good enough football at times, let teams back into it at times.

“It just depends on whether we can move the ball that bit quicker and still get into defensive shape and put in the hits in that back line, which is the big question against the likes of Armagh who are a more physical team and have big men that can drive on and it’ll just be interesting to see how we cope with that.”

The league didn’t offer much hope as Declan Bonner’s men failed to find a level of consistency. Diver believes the biggest problem has been their second-half performances.

“That game against Tyrone, we came back into it brilliantly in the second half. That was nullified then by a very poor performance against Monaghan in the same pitch where MacCumhaill Park was your fortress.

“Then against Mayo, we were all over Mayo, but we didn’t put them away. We started to retreat into our shell a bit and they capitalised on that.

“That was probably the main trend throughout the league, that we seemed to retreat in the second half rather than go for the juggler and go at it.”

Stefan Campbell and Aidan Nugent will be available for Armagh, while Ciaran Mackin is out through injury. Donegal head into the game without defenders Neil McGee and Odhran McFadden-Farry, both suspended.

Diver said: “Experience means a lot in the Ulster championship and McGee carries that into the team. You could put him in there for ten minutes near the end and he’ll just shore things up. They’re losses that way.”