The most common question being put in my direction since last August is “are you missing it?”

It was the result most expected but Donegal's journey to the Allianz League Division 2 title was anything but straightforward at Croke Park.

Donegal waltzed back to the top flight of the Allianz League with a comprehensive 13-point win over a listless Kildare at Fr Tierney Park in Ballyshannon yesterday.

There have been plenty of firsts in the GAA this year, plenty of talking points, a fair share of controversies and lots of soul-searching.

Donegal 2-22 Down 1-12

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.

Monaghan 1-16 Donegal 1-10: Monaghan are safe in Division One, for another season, while Donegal will have a final chance at survival on Sunday, when they host Mayo in a winner-takes-all contest in Ballybofey.

A Daithi Casey point in the sixth minute of injury-time handed victory to Kerry at the end of which the hosts had 14 players on the field and Donegal one less.

Veteran industrial relations negotiator Peter McLoone will mediate talks between the FAI and Siptu on August 9 to try avoid a full Labour Court hearing on a staff pay claim.

It is “absolutely scandalous” that the Child & Family Agency (Tusla) has placed a troubled teen in an apartment in Co Louth where he is free to roam around a town until 11pm every night, a judge has stated.

Monaghan 1-10 Donegal 1-9: The roar from the Monaghan support following Colin Walshe’s 73rd-minute winner against Donegal in Castleblayney yesterday was so loud it could probably be heard at Austin Stack Park in Tralee.

Naomh Conaill (Donegal) 1-11 Trillick (Tyrone) 2-9: Tyrone champions Trillick hung on for dear life as they pipped Donegal’s Naomh Conaill in the AIB Ulster Club Championship quarter-final in Ballybofey yesterday.

Naomh Conaill 0-11 St Eunan’s 0-10: Naomh Conaill of Glenties captured a third Donegal SFC title with victory over St Eunan’s of Letterkenny in a peculiar final in Ballybofey yesterday.

Mayo v Donegal

The lack of competitive games this weekend ensured they passed without any major controversy, even as we get close to the summit of the football season.

Kerry 2-9 Donegal 0-12

Paddy McBrearty kicked a late winner as Donegal scraped home in an intesnse Ulster derby to reach a third All-Ireland semi-final in four years.

Donegal 0-15 Monaghan 1-09

Donegal 3-16 Antrim 0-12

Louis van Gaal’s entire coaching philosophy is based on three central tenets: defence, transition to attack and attack.

Well before last Saturday Jamesie O’Connor was a Sky Sports man.

The tackle is a skill by which one or more players may dispossess an opponent or frustrate his objective within the rules of fair play. A tackle is aimed at the ball, not the player. A tackler may use his body to confront the opponent but deliberate bodily contact such as punching, slapping, arm holding, pushing, tripping, jersey pulling or a full frontal charge is forbidden.

Derry 0-11 Donegal 1-11

Donegal 0-14 Laois 0-8

Monaghan 0-13 Donegal 0-07

Donegal 0-12 Down 0-9

Donegal 2-10 Tyrone 0-10

Mayo 1-10 Donegal 0-9

Mayo 1-10 Donegal 0-9, Castlebar

Donegal 1-12 Kerry 0-5

Donegal 1-12 Kerry 0-6

Donegal 0-12 Down0-7

Donegal’s Leo McLoone insists the Ulster champions will be better prepared for the task at hand when they return to Croke Park for a second successive shot at the All-Ireland series.

Jim McGuinness reckons history will treat these Donegal players kindly now.

Donegal 2-18 Down 0-13

Kevin Reilly returns at full back in the Meath team to face Dublin in the Leinster final at Croke Park on Sunday.

Strong wind at Santry Stadium played a telling factor on Day One of the 2012 Woodies DIY National Track and Field Championships today.

The latest evidence Donegal have ditched the defensive game-plan which won them a first Ulster title in 19 years last summer came in Ballybofey on Saturday when they took Derry apart.

Donegal 2-13 Derry 0-09

Donegal preserved their Division One status after coming from behind to defeat Armagh at Ballybofey yesterday.

Donegal 0-13 Armagh 0-10, Ballybofey

Donegal’s Leo McLoone spent a large part of last year out through injury, but the versatile Naomh Conaill clubman led from the front at Dangan yesterday as last year’s runners-up booked their place in the last four of the Sigerson Cup.