Former Tyrone half-back Philip Jordan says expectations in the county are as low as they have been for over a decade.
Jordan joined Off The Ball and Donegal's Brendan Devenney to preview this weekend's Ulster championship opener between their counties.
"It's the first time since the early 2000s that Tyrone people wouldn't be very hopeful of getting a victory. Probably the height of ambition is looking to get a good performance, which might be something to build on going forward," he said, adding that Donegal seem to be ahead of the Red Hand County in development terms.
Devenney, who co-presented Off The Ball tonight also feels Rory Gallagher's knowledge of the inner workings of the Donegal team makes it easier for him to bed in as the successor to Jim McGuinness.
"Chatting to the guys on the inside. In the first year, Jim completely ran the show and Rory stayed in the background. In the second year, Rory got much more vocal and the two lads really bounced off each other. I think in the third year, Rory got too vocal and his opinions got too much for Jim and then eventually the two fell out over a few issues. So now he's back in and in many ways, he's the perfect guy to take over from Jim in terms of keeping Donegal the way they were," said Devenney, who added that winning Ulster would be a good way to start Gallagher's tenure.
Galway are also in action against Leitrim in Connacht and former Tribesmen forward Michael Meehan believes Galway will need a bit of realism if they get as far as facing Mayo.
"A dose of reality of level-headedness should come back into people's minds because Mayo's been so far ahead for the last four years in Connacht and Galway have been on the wrong end of a couple of beatings. If Galway can get a good convincing performance on Sunday, the management will be very happy with that to bring them into the Mayo game - going in as underdogs but back in Galway," he said.
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