Mac's View: With our best foot forward, there is no reason we can’t beat Derry

The big day is upon us. We have Derry in the first game in the 2025 Ulster senior championship in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey on Sunday and it is a day I’m really looking forward to.

I know it is a bit early for the championship and I would be in the camp that consideration should be given to taking the All-Ireland final back to September, but be that as it may, we have to go with what is in front of us.

Jim McGuinness will have been preparing over the last two weeks but Derry, despite reports that they are going to be short a number of players, must not be underestimated.

They came down to Ballyshannon a number of weeks ago and gave us a game for a long period. Indeed, it was only when they lost Brendan Rogers in defence that we were able to impose ourselves on the contest and pull away.

Remember this Derry team were Division 1 National League champions just 12 months ago and among the favourites for the All-Ireland. They will come with expectation and also with a sour taste after the way they capitulated against Donegal in the first round in Celtic Park last year.

But I think we have the artillery to take charge of the game. We have the ability to take scores from every line, from the full-back line up to the full-forward line.

I’m hearing that there is an estimated crowd of around 14,000 expected for the contest and with the upturn in the weather there should be a championship feel about the ground on Sunday. But I would urge people to get out and support the team and also make themselves heard. Sometimes the Donegal support can be a little quiet. I would like them to become the Donegal 16th man, not just on Sunday but in every game.

With the game being the first championship game to be televised this year, the spotlight will be on the players and also on the new rules. After watching the league finals last weekend, I’m not fully convinced yet about the new rules.

I hope we can utilise them to our advantage and they should suit us. Discipline will be a key factor under the new rules and any indiscretions can lead to an easy score with the ball being advanced 50m and red cards will create a huge issue, especially with the 3 up rule in place.

It looks as if we will be without Eoghan Ban Gallagher and Patrick McBrearty and they are two sizable losses. But on the other side of the coin Big Hugh McFadden is playing out of his skin and is a good partner for Michael Langan at midfield.

I expect Donegal to win but I also expect Derry to be a force later on in the championship if they can get most of their players back from injury. But we cannot afford to look beyond Sunday. We have to take care of our own knitting for now and then prepare for the next battle after Sunday.

If we play to the levels that we can play, I can see no reason why we can’t win.

LEAGUE FINALS

I watched all four National League finals on the TV at the weekend and while the Division 1 final was a disappointing affair with Kerry easy winners over Mayo, the other three finals were very enjoyable.

Monaghan looked like a very good side in disposing of Roscommon with goalkeeper Rory Beggan in sparkling form. Offaly played football that was really easy on the eye to overcome a physically strong Kildare side. The Offaly goal early on was a really good strike and it reminded me of the goal that Martin Carney scored against Offaly in the 1972 All-Ireland semi-final.

I really enjoyed the Limerick side winning against a Wexford side that were unbeaten up to the final. The Limerick side scored the goals and that was the difference in the end.

But overall, there was a disappointing attendance in Croke Park on both Saturday and Sunday. This is something that will have to be looked at by the authorities. Maybe there are too many games and supporters are finding it hard to gather the money to be there for every game. And attending games in Croke Park is much more expensive than other venues.

Here in Donegal we got the All County Leagues up and running last weekend and with the weather improving we have another round on Saturday evening.

Good luck to Barry Ward and the Donegal minors, who play Tyrone in the Ulster Minor League final on Saturday in Maghera and the minors also found out that they will have a home game against Monaghan or Down in the Ulster championship.

We also have the U-20s going well with a big win over Down on Saturday last in Ballyshannon. They were due to meet Tyrone in a crunch game on Wednesday night, but overall both the minors and U-20s are doing well, which is great for the future.

The Ladies finished off their league campaign with a good display against Cork in Ballyshannon and they will take heart from the fact that they were within three points of the Cork side, who are already in the league final.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell