Conor Gormley is aiming to banish the memory of back-to-back championship defeats to Donegal.

The Red Hands travel to Ballybofey on Sunday to take on the defending All-Ireland champions in a mouth-watering Ulster SFC first-round tie and veteran defender Gormley admits he's still smarting from the losses incurred against the same opposition in 2011 and 2012:

"When you are a defender you like to think that you have helped to thwart the opposition but we weren't able to do that on those occasions," the Carrickmore clubman tells The Belfast Telegraph.

"Hopefully, though, we will be more successful on Sunday. Our side has been reinvigorated by the new faces that have come in and there's a great sense of togetherness which I feel bodes well for us.

"You simply cannot afford to give them any room or time on the ball or they will punish you.

"Their inside forwards Michael Murphy, Colm McFadden and Patrick McBrearty are deadly. They showed what they are capable of over the past couple of years and they will be hungry for scores on Sunday.

"We have absorbed lessons from [the league final] and this can help make us an even better side. But on Sunday we are facing the reigning Ulster and All-Ireland champions in their own back yard and it surely gets no tougher than that.

"We will need to hit the ground running in the game because we simply cannot afford to allow Donegal to dictate matters." Tweet

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