All-Ireland SFC Group 1, round one: Donegal v Tyrone (Saturday, Páirc Seán Mac Cumhaill, 7pm)

‘I study him for the cuts, the scars, the pain man, nor time can erase. I move hard to the left and I strike to the face’ – The Hitter, by Bruce Springsteen

BEWARE the scar tissue. The Ulster final, played out just a fortnight ago in Clones, was more than a game of football. For the winners - and losers - it was a life experience of astonishing proportions.

To play in it. To be on the sideline. To be among the substitutes at the front of the Gerry Arthurs stand. To be anywhere in St Tiernach’s Park on that warm, sweaty Saturday evening was one of life’s privileges.

But the truth of the matter is nobody escapes epics like that unscathed.

Nights like May 10, 2025, have scarring effects on the body and mind.

The victorious become instantly vulnerable.

If Donegal are to progress through the All-Ireland group stages – as everyone expects them to do - there will be blips along the road.

Tyrone could well be cause for one of those blips in Ballybofey this evening even if they were well beaten by their hosts at this exact same stage last season.

Donegal’s blip came in the middle group game against Cork last season – a surprise draw in Páirc Úi Rinn.

The next, fatal, blip came in the second half of their All-Ireland semi-final joust with Galway at Croke Park.

So how does a triumphant Donegal squad come down from that unbelievable high of 14 days ago?

Donegal v Tyrone in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

For all their gargantuan efforts across four Ulster Championship games, they’re no further on than Tyrone.

A perceived advantage for the Red Hands is that they’ve had four clear weeks to get ready for this clash, as opposed to Donegal’s tumultuous two weeks.

Jim McGuinness will be deeply grateful that his Donegal players make a return to the Championship stage in Ballybofey and not somewhere down the country.

In McGuinness’s two spells in charge, MacCumhail Park has always been an impenetrable fortress.

Winning in the “belly of the dragon”, as Paddy Crozier phrased it after watching his Derry side escape with a Championship win there in 2008, remains the most apt description for visiting teams.

Donegal v Tyrone's five-year league record

But, lest the Red Hand faithful forget, Tyrone were the last team to beat Donegal in the Championship in Ballybofey – an All-Ireland quarter-final preliminary tie in 2023 - while Derry also claimed a win there a few weeks prior to that.

Of course, Donegal were in a different head space back then, very much in crisis mode following Paddy Carr’s ignominious exit with Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley performing manfully in an interim capacity to restore some pride before departing themselves.

Nine of the Tyrone side named to start this evening were part of Brian Dooher and Fearghal Logan’s line-up that won in Ballybofey two seasons ago, while eight Donegal starters tonight featured in the eight-point loss to the Red Hands.

But everything changed, changed utterly when McGuinness – Donegal’s spiritual leader - returned to the helm, and a season later the totemic Michael Murphy ended his two-year retirement.

Last season, McGuinness’s side recorded two Championship victories over Tyrone – winning by two points in Ulster and seven in the All-Ireland group stages.

Tyrone Manager Malachy O’Rourke

Tyrone, though, are under different management now. Malachy O’Rourke is the only man to inflict a provincial defeat on McGuinness – in the 2013 Ulster final when Monaghan ruled the roost.

It was always going to be difficult for O’Rourke to get a ‘new manager bounce’ out of this Tyrone squad especially with the Errigal Ciaran contingent going to the well in the All-Ireland Club series and when they did come back some of them were still carrying injuries during the National League.

Tyrone also grappled with the FRC’s new rules due to a lack of physicality in the middle eight sector and simply not grasping the need for quicker transitional play.

While Tyrone laboured and constantly coughed up possession around Armagh’s 40m arc in their early-season Division One clash at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, their hosts showed them how you must brazenly attack enemy lines under the new rules.

But the month of May will be seen as Tyrone’s time to shine – and the Red Hands are beginning to stir.

Workmanlike in the Cavan win and significant signs of improvement in their agonising one-point defeat to Armagh in the Ulster semi-finals, even though they were cleaned out in the primary possession stakes, and a month’s rest– what’s not to love about Tyrone’s pathway to the All-Ireland group stages?

They also have the forwards to hurt any team in the country.

Darren McCurry has been exceptional for Tyrone – a name that doesn’t always readily come to mind when we talk about great forwards although it absolutely should.

Not predisposed to hyperbole, Philip Jordan worked with McCurry at U21 level some years back and commented in 2014: “I knew he was going to be a star. If he keeps working hard, he is going to be a top, top player for many years.”

McCurry is comfortably in that category.

But Tyrone will need more than McCurry to shine in Ballybofey. They’ll need Darragh Canavan firing on all cylinders after a couple of injuries, they’ll need Kieran McGeary continuing on his encouraging trajectory and popping up with scores from inside or outside the 40m arc.

Players like Michael McKernan, Niall Devlin and Mattie Donnelly will need to contribute to the scoreboard too because even if Donegal aren’t at their best, they still have an array of scoring threats all around the field.

If Tyrone can break even with Donegal’s brains trust - Peadar Mogan and Ryan McHugh - they’ll take a giant leap towards victory in Ballybofey.

But few teams have successfully managed this feat.

Named among the Tyrone subs, will Seanie O’Donnell come in to tag either Mogan or McHugh?

McKernan has the intelligence to engage in cat-and-mouse activity with either Donegal man while Shaun Patton and Niall Morgan will be trying to exert influence over proceedings from more than just their kick-outs.

This is a fascinating Championship affair.

There is definitely scar tissue that Tyrone can pick at – but Donegal are big and imposing, smart and surefooted.

The Ulster champions by a short head.