DONEGAL'S towering midfielder Jason McGee is fit and keen to fight for his place in the Tir Conaill team to face Cavan in the Ulster SFC final on Sunday week.
The impressive McGee was taken off after 15 minutes with an apparent leg injury in the Ulster semi-final win over Tyrone, prompting fears that he might be out of the big showdown in Clones.
But Tir Conaill boss Declan Bonner has confirmed the Cloughaneely man is fit to start.
“Jason is all right he will be 100 per cent and was present at training,’’ said Bonner.
“He just got a bang it was a kind of dead leg but he is fine.
“Jason started the game very well, but we had Ciaran Thompson to step in and Ciaran did a very good job”.
Bonner added that Donegal now had a fully-fit squad as Caolan McGonagle was back training after being out injured for six weeks.
However, he sounded a strong word of caution as Donegal come off the back of an emphatic victory over Tyrone.
“It is one thing beating Tyrone, but there is no silverware handed out yet.
“We have to get ready for a challenge now against Cavan in the Ulster final and it is not going to be easy.
“We will need improvement from Saturday night and that is what we are looking for against Cavan.”
When told that Donegal are “raging-hot favourites”, Bonner said it “was not an issue”.
“There is a lot of experience in our squad and a lot of young lads too and it is not a factor and we know that we have an Ulster final appearance and it is never easy won.
“We have to get ready and the young lads that are in there are fairly level-headed and I don’t think they are paying too much attention to what is going on on the outside. We are keeping it nice and tight.”
Bonner said he had watched Cavan over the past few weeks and they were “very impressive”.
“They kicked 0-23 against Armagh at the weekend and they have some outstanding players,” he said.
“For us there is still room for improvement and now we are facing Cavan in an Ulster final and it is a good place to be, but it is only a good place to be if you are going to win it.
“[Cavan] are well set up and they are playing the type of football that the top teams are playing, and they played in Division One of the NFL this year.
“They go man-to-man, they have threats all over the field. They have Gearoid McKiernan, Dara McVeety, Cian Mackey coming off the bench, Martin Reilly, Niall Murray, Killian Clarke at centre half-back, Padraig Faulkner and [Conor] Moynagh at corner-back.
“They are very good players and a lot of these guys have won Ulster U21 championship medals already and beat Donegal along the way.
“They have been there for the past five or six years and Mickey Graham has come in and galvanised things and he has had a big year in terms of club and county.
“There will be huge hype around Cavan as Cavan is a very proud GAA county with a great tradition and it is 18 years since they have been in an Ulster final so it is a huge occasion for us.
“The important message I want to get out is that we will be needing huge Donegal support in Clones on Sunday week.
“There will be fierce demand for tickets and while support has been good so far, we will need huge numbers in Clones as Cavan will bring a massive following hungry for success as they have not won an Ulster title since 1997.”
