Ulster decider has 'healthy dollop of rivalry' - McConville

Donegal and Armagh have faced each other three times already this season

Former Armagh All-Ireland winner Oisin McConville is predicting the county will deliver a first Ulster Championship since 2008 next month.

Kieran McGeeney's side will take on Donegal in the final at Clones on 12 May after they edged past Down in the last four on Saturday.

While Armagh were far from convincing at Celtic Park, and lost to Donegal in the Allianz League Division Two final last month, McConville believes the Orchard County are ready for a breakthrough triumph after losing out to Derry at this stage a year ago.

"I think Armagh. I thought Armagh from the start," McConville said on the GAA Social Podcast on BBC Sounds.

"I think the fact that Donegal have beaten them in a Division Two final will help them as well, to be honest.

"There's a good healthy dollop of rivalry between these two teams. They don't like each other. 

"There seems to be a bit of rivalry on the sidelines which just adds to it. Can you imagine what Clones is going to be like on 12 May?

"It's phenomenal that we're getting these sorts of games.

"It's been an unbelievable championship. It's delivered on so many fronts."

Jim McGuinness won an Ulster title in the first season of his first spell as Donegal boss

Having beaten back-to-back winners Derry in the quarter-finals, and accounted for Tyrone last weekend, McConville added that the returning Jim McGuinness, who won three Ulster titles and an All-Ireland as the county's manager between 2011 and 2014, will not be content with a season that has already exceeded most expectations.

"I don't think Jim McGuinness came back to win a Division Two title," he added.

"Even an Ulster title [would be viewed as] a springboard to something better than that.

"If he didn't see that in them, he wouldn't be there. He's got the response he wanted.

"He's got a response from a crowd of players."

'He deserves a lot of credit'

Donegal are aiming for a first Ulster title since 2019

Ryan McHugh is one of the Donegal players who worked with McGuinness during his first spell, winning an Ulster title in 2014 under the Glenties man before adding another pair of Anglo Celts under his successor Declan Bonner in 2018 and 2019.

The 30-year-old is thrilled to be back in an Ulster decider after a disappointing season a year ago.

"We're delighted to be in the final," he said.

"It's been a tough couple of years in Donegal. We were competing in Ulster finals there for a number of years and the last few we've been well off.

"To be back in one is huge for the county."

McHugh credits McGuinness for returning to the job at a time when the Tir Chonaill were "on [their] knees".

"Jim and his management team coming back in has given not just the team but the whole county a massive lift," he said.

"He deserves a lot of credit because he didn't have to come back. He had proved everything to the county and the country before.

"He took us on when probably we were on our knees, to call a spade a spade.

"It's given us all a huge lift."