There was only a point between them yesterday, but Brendan Devenney believes Donegal and Monaghan are passing each other at different points of a crossroads.
The ex-Donegal forward was on Off The Ball tonight after Monaghan beat his county in yesterday's Ulster final in Clones and weeks after many were impressed by Donegal after they saw off Armagh, Devenney was less optimistic with an eye towards the future.
"For Donegal we were looking at, just two games ago, were they going to have this perfect synergy of defence and attack. What we realise now is they were playing against a very poor side. And really for Donegal - and I think for any Ulster team - I don't think they can stay up there. It's not an inevitability that they can stay at the top because it takes so much out of the team playing the way they play. That's why you've seen Tyrone drop off and Armagh drop off. Now Donegal, I think, are going to go on a bit of a downward spiral and Monaghan are the coming team now because they want that Sam Maguire, they want them big days in Croke Park and I think that's the difference between Donegal and Monaghan yesterday."
Listen to the full analysis via the podcast which also includes the views of former Dublin forward Mossy Quinn and our own Colm 'Wooly' Parkinson.
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