DUBLIN have already written off Donegal’s chances of progressing to the All-Ireland SFC Final – at least bookies have anyway.
And there’s even talk in the capital of a sell-out crowd with the sides clash in the semi-final on August 31, with the ‘boys in blue’ (highly original song) going along to ‘celebrate’ victory over Jim McGuinness’s side.
Last night several bookmakers in Dublin were offering Donegal fans odds of 10/1 to beat Dublin after the quarter finals last weekend.
Dublin outclassed Monaghan and swooned to victory with 17 points to spare while an off-colour Donegal edged past Armagh by a point.
Saturday saw a crowd of 72,440 at GAA headquarters. Another 10,000 for the semi-final would reach capacity.
The fact Donegal Minors are taking on Dublin on the same day will add to the interest.
But those in the Dublin football camp are trying to play down expectations amongst their fans.
Dublin GAA chair Andy Kettle stressed: “I am sure Jim McGuinness has sat down and worked out some sort of a plan. Whether that plan is possible to be executed, I don’t know, but you can rest assured that he will have something up his sleeve.
“But as Jim Gavin would say, we concentrate on ourselves being the best we can. If that is good enough on the day, so be it. If it’s not up to scratch on the day, then that’s our fault.”