O’Rourke: Strong start and self-belief key to stopping champions

Victorious Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke admitted he and his management team had studied Donegal forensically prior to yesterday’s Ulster final.

As soon as they had beaten Cavan in the semi-final, they had their match-ups organised for the game and they had zoned in on depriving the provincial and All-Ireland champions the strong opening they craved.

“We felt early on Donegal, I suppose like in the All-Ireland final (last year), they might have put in high ball in and try to blitz us early so we just wanted to make sure we didn’t let them get a start on us.