Mickey Harte says Donegal will be challenged in every game they play this summer.

As defending Ulster and All-Ireland champions, Donegal are the team that everyone else wants to beat. And Harte's Tyrone will be the first to have a pop at them on Sunday...

"It is a challenge," Harte told Teamtalkmag.com. "The biggest challenge is, when you have reached the pinnacle, do you have the desire deep inside to do it again?

"And you can't answer those questions until you're put to the challenge, and they're not being put to the challenge yet until they start this year's championship.

"Every day they go out, they will be meeting that challenge, and whether it's the 26th in Ballybofey that they get the answer, or whether it's the third Sunday in September in Croke Park, we won't know until that happens.

"But I do know for sure that they will be challenged, and it will ask very hard questions of them, and if they can answer all those questions, they're even more super-men than they showed themselves to be last year.

"They proved they're good enough to win the All-Ireland and there's a serious confidence that comes with that. The next challenge for them is how do you handle being at the top of the tree, so to speak

"That's a challenge they have to face now. It's new territory for them because they haven't been there before.

"This group of players are on an upward spiral since they started out in 2011 and now they have to decide whether they can raise the bar again." Tweet

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