Donegal ace Ryan McHugh insisted the disciplinary issues that dominated the build-up to Sunday’s win over Armagh didn’t affect the team’s preparation.
He also said they planned to face a full strength Armagh side despite Rian O’Neill, Aidan Nugent and Stefan Campbell being initially suspended for the quarter-final meeting in Ballybofey.
All three were cleared while Donegal pair Neil McGee and Odhran McFadden-Ferry missed out after the Donegal county board decided not to seek hearings for their players arising from a melee at the end of the League meeting between the teams.
Read more: Donegal vs Armagh: Player ratings from Sunday's Ulster SFC quarter-final
McHugh was one of his side's best players as they put Kieran McGeeney’s men to the sword on a scoreline of 1-16 to 0-12 to set up a semi-final clash with Cavan.
“We planned all along that they would have their players,” said McHugh.
“We felt that we had the match-ups to pick them up. It was no shock when they got off and were available.
"It didn’t change us one bit. We like to focus on ourselves as much as possible.”
“We didn’t talk about it a lot. It was disappointing for Odhran and Neil to miss out, especially the way it went when the Armagh boys got off.
"Donegal GAA took the decision not to appeal - it could have backfired - but we won the match which is the main thing.”
McHugh also felt that his side could have been more ruthless in the first half when they dominated possession, but only led by three at half-time.
“I think we felt we were getting into good scoring positions. I think on another day, they’ll go over,” reflected McHugh.
“I think we felt we got the right players on the ball - Michael Langan, Michael Murphy, Paddy (McBrearty) and Jamie Brennan. There’s a lot of boys we’d back everyday of the week to take those scores.
“We felt they were the right shots to take - I don’t know if there is such a thing a good wide?
“We’re happy with how we shut down the Armagh kick-outs. We got to grips with them in the first half.”
Donegal boss Declan Bonner, meanwhile, labelled the GAA’s disciplinary process as an “absolute farce” following Sunday’s win over the Orchard County.
When he was asked if he was surprised by Armagh's successful appeals, Bonner replied: “Yeah, surprised, but listen, in terms of the CAC, there’s a lot of questions to be answered because that whole appeals committee is an absolute farce, to be quite honest.
“Not that we dwelt too much on it, we did the job we had to do.
“You see it yourself, if you’re getting players off . . . They have to look at it, that’s for sure, but it’s not for me, I’m not part of it."
Read more: BBC Championship pundits divided on Mick McCann’s red card
Read more: Antrim vs Cavan: Player ratings from Saturday's Ulster SFC tie
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.
