*Emmet McMahon is one of six members of the Clare team to have started in last year’s game. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
FOR THE SECOND year in a row, Clare and Donegal will do battle in the All-Ireland SFC.
There’s a much different picture thirteen months on from that 0-14 0-9 win for Donegal though.
Donegal are Ulster Champions now, whereas then they were a county under pressure following a 2-13 1-11 Ulster quarter-final loss to Down. They have had a change in management with the return of Jim McGuinness as manager following the departure of then caretaker boss Aidan O’Rourke.
Clare are also under new management with Mark Fitzgerald succeeding the long-serving Colm Collins.
Only six members of Clare’s side which lined out in Ennis last May will be featuring this weekend, Stephen Ryan, Ronan Lanigan, Cillian Brennan, Cillian Rouine, Daniel Walsh and Emmet McMahon all started in the encounter while Darragh Bohannon, Aaron Griffin, Brian McNamara, Ikem Ugwueru and Mark McInerney were introduced off the bench.
They will be looking to make their mark on Saturday in Castlebar with Bohannon to miss the tie through suspension.
A win for Clare can see them qualify for a preliminary quarter-final while Donegal will be determined to put out a message that they are contenders for All-Ireland glory following their shock loss to Cork a fortnight ago.
