Donegal v Laois, Letterkenny, 2.30pm

Sunday, February 12
Allianz Football League Division I
Donegal v Laois, Letterkenny, 2.30pm

A clash of the two promoted sides, Donegal and Laois lost their opening games last weekend and picking up points at this early stage of the Allianz League will be the priority for both managers.

This is a repeat of last year’s Allianz League Division II final at Croke Park, a game Donegal won on a 2-11 to 0-16 scoreline, although Laois did win the group game earlier in the year.

Michael Murphy and Colm McFadden starred that day for Donegal, scoring 2-6 between them, but the pair are ruled out for the time being through injury. Martin McElhinney is also unavailable having suffered an ankle injury minutes after scoring Donegal’s goal in last Saturday night’s narrow defeat to Down.

It was a disappointing opening to the League campaign for Jim McGuinness, as Dermot Molloy missed an injury time free to salvage a point. McGuinness will, no doubt, view this game as an absolute must-win given Cork visit Ballybofey in the next round and they face the long trip to Killarney in Round 4.

Defeat for Laois would leave them facing a serious battle against relegation. They were roundly beaten by Mayo in their League opener in Portlaoise last week.

"The team didn't do themselves justice in terms of the performance,” said Laois boss Justin McNulty. “It was a fair enough result, Mayo were deserving winners, and we have to go back to the drawing board to a certain extent to see how we produce a better display than we did today.

"The lads didn't go out to try and play as badly as the team did, but it's something we have to rectify and we have a quick turnaround now and we have a chance to rectify it next Sunday."

Consolidation in the top flights was surely the aim for both managers at the start of the campaign, but that target could start to become more elusive unless they start to pick up points quickly.