Jarlath Burns believes any one of six teams could win this year's Ulster SFC.

It's not long since you could throw a hat over the genuine contenders for Ulster football's most-coveted prize but former Armagh midfielder Burns believes the days of monopolies and duopolies up north are over:

"Were Monaghan, Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Down or Cavan to win the Ulster title I wouldn't bat an eyelid," the former Orchard County captain says in The Irish Times. "That's true to the extent that Tyrone are finding the current period of transition more complicated than they have done previously.

"Donegal have been drilled to within an inch of their lives but that can only be done so many times and I didn't see that energy in them against Monaghan. Maybe that was the plan, though.

"They've been away in the Algarve training and it's possible Jim McGuinness wants to bring down expectations and keep it low key ahead of the championship. He could be laughing up his sleeve at this.

"But I would have thought Donegal needed two things from Sunday: one, to exorcise what happened in Croke Park last August when Mayo destroyed them, and two, to teach Monaghan a lesson after last year's Ulster final...

"In the short term it's going to be very interesting to see what happens in Derry next month." Tweet

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