Turns out Brendan Devenney is a bit of an oracle. Last month, the former Donegal footballer was adamant that his county would come out on top if they faced All Ireland favourites Dublin in they were to cross swords in the semi-final:
"That [Dublin] forward line will keep breaking on that Donegal defence and Donegal will break forward into the space. I'd have no doubt that they'd beat Dublin."
As it happened, he was right on the money and he got to bask in the glow of his prediciton when he joined us on the line to review the weekend's All Ireland semi-finals.
Ex-Mayo player David Brady, former Dublin forward Mossy Quinn and our own Wooly were also in studio with Nathan to look back on an exciting weekend on the pitch.
"After the first 10 minutes I was kind of thinking that it could be a different story," admitted Devenney of Donegal's poor start.
"I think Donegal just sat in and their game-plan started to kick in over time. It took them a while to find their feet and really this Dublin team can't defend when it's put up to them. Once Donegal got on top of them, they looked very ordinary."
Christy Toye's impact earned the lads' praise ©INPHO/James Crombie
Brady and Wooly both feel Donegal look fresher than last year, while the former pointed towards the Ulster side's excellent chance conversion yesterday.
"A lot of things went perfectly well and you need that when you're playing champions. The conversion shot rate for Donegal was in the high 60s. No team has that high a rate of conversion over the last three years. Nearly 68 per cent shot conversion was massive," said Brady.
Mossy mused whether Jim Gavin will tweak his game-plan next year as Dublin look to bounce back.
"Dublin have stuck to the system and it has been successful. That obviously earns you the right to go out and say our systems work and our players are working. It's easy now to sit here and second guess Jim Gavin but he's said it since the very first game of the league and they've delivered in every single performance. I think it was just one of those days."
Of course there was another thriller this weekend as Kerry edged out Mayo in a game full of controversy and talking points.
Mossy felt Kerry's David Moran was "phenomenal" in midfield with the incredible 47 possessions stat.
Brady felt the dominance of that middle sector as well as the inside was what propelled to Kingdom to victory.
"28 balls went in to the forward line and Kerry won 20. Between Donaghy and O'Donoghue got 3-6 out of it. That says it all," he said.
Players from both sides tussle off the ball ©INPHO/Donall Farmer
Wooly praised Kerry's character during the first match and replay and along with Donegal he believes that "the two best teams in Ireland are in the final".
The lads went on to cast one eye on that decider and whether it is right to put the game down as a battle between Donegal's half-back line and Kerry's forwards.
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