THE men they can't kill off are off back down a now-familiar July road and looking ominously dangerous.
Donegal booked their place in a sixth Ulster SFC final in-a-row on Saturday night. Deep in the trenches, Rory Gallagher's men rolled the sleeves up for a win that will rank right up alongside any of those achieved in recent years.
Since 2011, Donegal have played 21 games in the Ulster Championship and have now won 18 of those, their only losses coming in the 2013 and '15 Ulster finals to Monaghan: "A lot of people are saying we're over the hill, but you can see men really stepping up there,"? said Frank McGlynn, now one of Donegal's elder statesmen.
The 30-year-old Glenfin man has won Ulster three times and was an Allstar in 2012 when Donegal captured Sam Maguire. The stonemason still hasn't got the point of his chisel onto Donegal's gravestone.
McGlynn said: "The same questions were asked before the Fermanagh game, but we've responded in good fashion.
"A lot of hard questions have been asked, but this showed the hunger for another Ulster title. We had a good fresh bill of health this week. It's a good time of year to be coming fit and fresh. It's a fantastic record. It's massive to get to the final, but it's one we'll be keen to win."
Donegal were comfortable and in control of Saturday's replay and, yet, were hanging on by the very tips of their fingers, despite roaring into a five-point lead at the start. Their concentration lapses that allowed goals for Shane Carey and Conor McManus in the first-half were every bit as uncharacteristic as Karl Lacey's loss of possession 10 minutes from time, which let Conor McCarthy in on goal.
McCarthy lobbed Mark Anthony McGinley, but his shot hit the crossbar and 14-man Donegal, who had Rory Kavanagh sent-off, used every sinew of their experience late on: "Relief is probably the overriding feeling we have. It looked very good in the middle of the second-half. These games go to and fro. Monaghan came back very strong at us," McGlynn added.
"We went down to 14 men and there were a lot of ups and downs. We're just glad to get over the line. We did a lot of good work to get the good lead, but undone it all by switching off. We responded very well. Any time you go in ahead, it's always a good position to be in.
"We knew we had to keep the cushion and we were confident that there wasn't a goal threat, apart from those times we switched off. There was a wee bit of luck on our side. Monaghan weren't taking the free chances and then the ball that came off the crossbar."?
It was a big night's work by Martin O'Reilly, who scored three points as well as nullifying the threat of Karl O'Connell, man of the match in the first installment, while Kieran Gillespie got another useful 70 minutes.
The guard is changing a little, but Donegal still look to the old reliables when the going gets tough: "The young lads have the legs to finish the job. It's fantastic for them, but they're not new to the game," McGlynn said.?
"They've had big days before and these games will bring them on even more."
