Donegal star Patrick McBrearty says he expects another airtight encounter against Armagh when the two sides meet in the Ulster SFC final next Saturday week.

The Tir Chonaill men moved into their 12th provincial decider in 15 years thanks to a hard fought 1-19 to 0-16 win against Down yesterday afternoon in Clones, where McBrearty scored 1-4 in a ‘Man of the Match’ display.

Speaking after the six-point win, the Kilcar clubman said it took the opening quarter or so of the game for the holders to find their “groove".

"Job done. We knew coming into today, it was a very capable Down team," he told BBC Sport NI after the final whistle at St Tiernach’s Park.

"We were probably a bit tetchy for the first 15 minutes but I thought we found our groove then and settled into the game and got the goal obviously.

"But big, big lessons to learn from today and big improvements if we're going to beat Armagh in the Ulster final."

He added: "I think we played them [Armagh] three times last year and there was only a point in it over so many hundred minutes. We know Armagh and they know us and it's going to come down to inches. It's how we prepare now until Sunday week but it's great to be involved in those types of days."

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