MAHER: I FEEL FOR DONEGAL PLAYERS

JOHN Maher wasn't a happy man for 10 minutes on Monday — so he knows how rivals Donegal feel this week.

- BY MICHAEL SCULLY

The tireless forward and his colleagues returned to Galway from Newry at 11pm on Sunday night after their round trip to face Down.

A mechanical engineer by trade, he worked at home on Monday and so got a bit of extra sleep before getting down to it. Then he saw a schedule for the All-Ireland quarter-finals that had Galway facing Meath at Croke Park tomorrow.

Fortunately for the Tribesmen, it was fake news, and their meeting with the Royals takes place on Sunday instead - but he certainly has sympathy for Donegal, who have to deal with that six-day turnaround against Monaghan.

"I do feel for the Donegal players," said Maher. "I actually originally saw the wrong schedule and, to put it mildly, I wasn’t happy for the 10 minutes until the official schedule came out. I kind of got a taste of what they were feeling. It’s not easy for them but they're a resilient bunch up in Donegal and they'll give it a good crack on Saturday.”