James McCartan believes Down's NFL victory over Donegal will provide John Joe Doherty's men will ample motivation ahead of the sides' Ulster SFC first round clash on May 30.

"We treated this as if it was the championship," the Down manager said.

"Taking league positions out of it, that's probably the result Donegal would like championship-wise because that's the motivation you need.

"We're happy with getting the two points and while Donegal will be disappointed to lose they mightn't be too down. Come championship, regardless of where we both finish in the league, those guys in there will be beating the drum about turning us over again. It's easier to motivate a team like that."

Donegal boss John John Doherty said: "We will take heart from the fact that we battled when the game appeared gone midway through the second half.

"The boys did battle away and I'm disappointed they didn't get something out of it. Their character couldn't be questioned. We had a very poor display in Kildare last week and we were determined to turn it around.

"It's disappointing we didn't, but we battled very hard and hopefully we can use this as a launching pad." Tweet

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