Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Donegal an outlier among league final celebrants after "massive" win over Derry

Saturday's Ulster quarter-final win over Derry is "massive" for Donegal and Jim McGuinness' side are proving to be the sole remaining "outlier" among the teams that had something to celebrate after the Allianz League Finals, according to Éamonn Fitzmaurice.

Division 2 champions Donegal scored four goals en route to toppling recently crowned Division 1 winners Derry at Celtic Park, while Division 3 and 4 champions Westmeath and Laois have already been eliminated from the Leinster championship at their respective first hurdles.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, former Kerry manager Fitzmaurice said Donegal merit plenty of praise for how they overcame the challenge of facing an in-form Derry.

"I think Donegal, absolutely that was a huge win and it's an interesting pattern again when you talk about the way the thing is structured, that three of the four teams that lifted silverware in Croke Park a couple of weeks ago, the weekend of the league finals, they lost games in their provincial championships subsequently in games they probably would have been fancied to win," he said.

"So Donegal are the only outlier. They won the Division 2 final but they also beat Derry at the weekend. That was a massive win for Donegal.

"Derry looked a bit off it. Donegal deserve massive credit and I think they were probably the story of the weekend.

"Obviously that Tyrone-Cavan game was a great game yesterday. Kerry looked a bit rusty on Saturday but got the job done and similarly Mayo yesterday got the job done, so we're into two provincial finals now in Munster and Connacht."

Meanwhile, Donegal's semi-final opponents Tyrone face a "hugely quick turnaround" after going to extra time to get the better of Cavan and must recover in time for this Sunday