Paddy Bradley
Derry All Star

"The changes to the line-ups were expected. We all knew Malachy O'Rourke was not going to name his finalised team until before throw-in. Owen Lennon is very experienced and they have Dick Clerkin coming off the bench.

"Drew Wylie isn't starting but I wouldn't be surprised to see him come on. He's moving well in the warm-up."

Both managements make late changes to their line-ups with Mark McHugh replacing Martin O'Reilly in the Donegal side and Kieran Duffy and Owen Lennon taking over from Stephen Gollogly and Shane Care in the Farney side.

In the 2013 decider, McHugh was injured in a shuddering challenge by Gollogly and the Kilcar man missed the entire 2014 campaign before returning to the Donegal squad.

Donegal: P Durcan; P McGrath, N McGee, E McGee; R McHugh, K Lacey, F McGlynn; N Gallagher, M McElhinney; C Toye, O MacNiallais, M McHugh; P McBrearty, M Murphy, C McFadden.

Monaghan: R Beggan; D Mone, V Corey, R Wylie; C Walshe, F Kelly, K O'Connell; N McAdam, D Hughes; O Duffy, K Duffy, O Lennon; D Malone, K Hughes, C McManus.

It's the final that everybody predicted from the off in Ulster but that doesn't make this Clones clash any less intriguing.

Monaghan shocked then All-Ireland champions Donegal in the 2013 provincial decider only for the Tir Chonaill men to gain revenge 12 months ago.

Donegal are marginal favourites going into today's game but no less a GAA expert than Tyrone great Peter Canavan has tipped Monaghan to triumph.

The experts appear to be predicting another dour, hard-hitting struggle in Ulster GAA's citadel but also a game that is going to fascinate.

Let the battle commence.