REAL ARM' WRESTLE

Orchard to win - and leave me grumpy

- camon mcgee

ULSTER finals are unique. They could be played out on the field at the back of my house and it would still create an occasion.

I don’t get caught up too much in where this fixture is staged or should be staged.

The road to Clones is not one I'm particularly enamoured with though. One of my core memories of Championship football with Donegal is driving up the hill in the bus listening to Jay-Z.

Garda escorts into the grounds were just the norm. You don't realise what fans go through until you're stuck in a town like Clones with three kids crying “Are we there yet?”

When we arrived at the exit of the mucky field, you parked in. Even going up there today, I've turned down a few media gigs because I want to enjoy the Ulster final with family - but I'm going to leave good and early with the crew.

What exactly is there to do to pass the time in Clones?

My partner would rather that I stay away from the bag of cans so I might visit the pilgrimage site of John Delaney Park and leave an offering of €50 to the patron saint of cowboys.

I'm cranky because I'm nervous. I'm nervous about today - very nervous.

Donegal have had Armagh’s number now over the years but the Orchard have an incredible coaching group about them.

They will have watched and rewatched all of Donegal’s League and Championship games so far this year. It’s an incredibly big ask for Donegal to go out and beat Armagh again.

The Orchard will also have watched last year's Ulster final.

Not for patterns of play or how they set up but to look at how it stung afterwards. They lost that game and coincidentally one of the criticisms that was flung at them at the time was how they couldn't think outside the box.