Daring Donegal fans nail their colours to the mast

It’s set to be one of the closest fought All Ireland football clashes in recent years — but Donegal’s die-hard fans may have already shaded it in the battle of the flags.

Devoted supporters of Jim McGuinness’s squad have managed to plant a Donegal flag on the isolated M6 weather buoy some 300km off the west coast.

Co Louth man, Brian Sharkey, a crewman on board the Marine Institute’s research vessel, RV Celtic Explorer, was instructed by fellow crewmen from Donegal to plant it on the buoy as he performed annual maintenance on the device yesterday.