Donegal were 9-point winners against Meath at the sun-kissed Ballybofey, although the scoreboard only tells half the story of a gripping contest.

Former Tyrone star Owen Mulligan believes the ‘knives will be out’ for long-serving manager Mickey Harte if the Red Hand fail to come through tomorrow’s tricky All-Ireland qualifier trip to Newbridge.

Donegal swept past Tyrone to book their place in the Ulster SFC final, scoring a first win over fierce north-west rivals Tyrone in four Championship clashes as they triumphed by four points at Kingspan Breffni Park.

One of Jim McGuinness’s first tasks when he finally landed the role of Donegal senior manager heading into the Baltic winter of 2010 was to cobble together a backroom team.

Ailing attendances, the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker, the Ulster championship finds itself at a crossroads.

Footballer Michael Murphy showed, on his television appearance on ‘The Toughest Trade’, that he possesses the attitude of a full-time sportsman. On Saturday, his manager with Donegal praised that mindset.

Scoreboard Fermanagh mustered a stirring second-half comeback in Letterkenny to come from five points down and overcome Donegal in Division 2.

Martin McElhinney says the current Donegal squad is the best he’s been involved in.

Goalkeepers of the Year

Michael Murphy gave us a glimpse of his past brilliance on Saturday. Past brilliance as one of the best Number 14s in GAA history. He has dominated hundreds of ‘squares’ for the best part of a decade.

Donegal 2-18 Fermanagh 0-12

My expectation that Fermanagh would make things horrible for Donegal in yesterday’s Ulster final never materialised. Perhaps I hadn’t factored in how much of an occasion this was for the Fermanagh players.

Donegal sucked all the energy and drama out of Ulster final day on Sunday afternoon, strolling to a 12-point win against a Fermanagh side that never looked capable of mounting the challenge needed to upset the odds.

Clones and Thurles are now the only iconic grounds left that provide the ultimate in provincial championship final atmosphere. It’s as much about the town, the hill and the patrons as it is about the ground.

Although some of the fizz has been taken out of the provincial championships since the introduction of the qualifiers back in 2001, there’s a semblance of a climactic feel to Donegal’s preliminary round opener against Cavan in Ballybofey tomorrow.

When Mayo are in town, there’s usually drama and that was certainly the case in Ballybofey yesterday when a point from Kevin McLoughlin in the fourth minute of injury time preserved the top-flight status of Stephen Rochford’s side at Donegal’s expense.

Poor decision making invariably leads to poor results.

Donegal 1-16 Kildare 3-7: Donegal’s poorest performance of Division 1 this term was still enough to post a first win, at Kildare’s expense.

Alan Foley’s tribute to Pat Shovelin, goalkeeping coach to Donegal’s senior footballers.

All-Ireland winner Patrick McBrearty showed all his big game experience with a dramatic 73rd minute winning point at Pairc Tailteann to send Donegal through to Round 4A of the qualifiers.

After so much criticism, scrutiny, and negativity, this was Tyrone’s day of deliverance with the team unleashing possibly its best and most significant victory of this decade at Clones yesterday.

Donegal 3-19 Antrim 1-9: With the wheels of change evident in Donegal, there was further evidence of its forward trajectory at Ballybofey yesterday.

Big three, big four, two groups of 16, three tiers, and the Super 8. The GAA is all about the numbers at the minute, writes Oisín McConville.

Donegal's dazzling array of underage talent sparkled under the lights in the Athletic Grounds tonight, easing to the county's first EirGrid Ulster U21 football title since 2010 against 14-man Derry.

Allianz FL Division 1

Allianz FL Division 1

Kerry 1-13 Donegal 1-8: He said afterwards the win enabled Kerry to look up towards play-off possibilities rather than look down at relegation threats, but Éamonn Fitzmaurice will look ahead with relish to anything the spring and summer can throw at him after this.

Donegal 1-11 Down 0-11: Frank McGlynn’s goal, after only 68 seconds, fired Donegal to a useful opening-day win over Down, in the Dr McKenna Cup, at Ballybofey.

ALL-IRELAND MFC SEMI-FINAL: