No excuses from focused Donegal, pledges Monaghan

BARRY MONAGHAN is adamant there will be “no excuses” from the Donegal camp if they fall to Cork in this weekend’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final even though they play their fifth game in four weeks.

The All-Ireland football championship has long been a lop-sided competition, one in which teams can require anything between five and 10 games to claim the Sam Maguire since the advent of the qualifiers.

Rarely has that discrepancy been so pronounced as it will be on Sunday when John Joe Doherty’s battle-tested troops will face a Cork side that hasn’t flexed its muscles in four weeks.