JIM'S GETTING STRESSED FOR SUCCESS AS FARNEY FALL..

McGuinness glad to see his troops handle the pressure

- BY PAUL KEANE

JIM MCGUINNESS feels Donegal's All-Ireland title challenge was fully 'stress-tested' by Monaghan.

The 2024 semi-finalists' hopes of lifting the Sam Maguire Cup looked slim at half-time when they trailed by seven points.

And had Rory Beggan sniped his third two-pointer from a 49th minute free, instead of whacking the post, the Farney would still have been three ahead.

But the underdogs simply ran out of steam and Donegal's All-Ireland favourites' tag seemed justified again by full-time.

Michael Langan's 44th minute goal, and 11 points without response between the 46th and 68th minutes, propelled a rejuvenated Donegal through to the last four.

Boss McGuinness said: "Your gameplan is going to be stress-tested and there's a different stress put on you every single time you play a game. We'll be in a semi-final now and there'll be a different set of variables again.

"There are a lot of good coaches out there, and they're all working on their own things to help their teams. It's just about trying to respond to that.