Donegal are through to a fifth Ulster final in a row after defeating Derry on Saturday, but the performance carried far less lustre than the previous outing against Armagh.

Mark McHugh did not start against Derry and former forward Brendan Devenney says his former side missed the 24-year-old.

"I was starting to think why Donegal were so good, not just attacking against Armagh but defensively, and you wonder with the likes of Mark McHugh, who played that day, is such a brilliant sweeper for Donegal," he told Off The Ball.   

"Colm McFadden had to come back into the team so McHugh was the guy who was sacrificed. I'm just wondering, all them gaps you're seeing with Lynch running through, if McHugh is that wee missing linking that Donegal didn't have in the team. I'm surprised they didn't start him. Maybe that affected Donegal in terms of his ability to clean up those areas."