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.
"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 coming.
"I heard Mattie Donnelly talking in the first hour about the sore bodies and the fact that they had to dig so deep to win the match," said Fitzmaurice.
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"So having that much of a quick turnaround within a week again is going to be demanding for them.
"But at the same time, they'll prefer to be in that situation rather than having been beaten and they'll have a great battle now with Donegal next weekend."
This year's championship is the second edition under the current format and Fitzmaurice added that he was going to be "a bit more patient" with it this time round and just enjoy "the games for what they are".
However, the prevailing sense from observers in recent times is that the provincial football championships have been unable to hold a candle to their equivalents in hurling, especially highlighted by a Munster SHC opening weekend headlined by pulsating clashes between Limerick and Clare in Ennis and Waterford and Cork at Walsh Park which leaves the Rebels and the Banner already scrambling to get off the mark next week after their respective losses.
"I think in fairness with the hurling, that in particular the Munster hurling championship, the fact that, number one, the teams are of such an even standard and then as well there's that serious jeopardy there straight away," said Fitzmaurice.
"Next weekend now, that game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh between Cork and Clare is a huge game because whichever one of those teams loses is obviously under huge pressure and both of those teams at the start of the championship, even before the ball was thrown in yesterday morning, they would have had big ambitions with regard to the whole thing.
"So it does show, even though it's a league format, it is almost like that old school championship whereas with the football, it is a little bit of a slower burn at the start.
"We are getting great games in fairness. There have been good games already in the provincial series and there's been a couple of shocks thrown up as well.
"But there is a different dynamic about it and you probably don't get that real sense of do or die until the preliminary quarter finals with the way things are staged at the moment.
"But for me personally, the way I'm looking at it this year, I was looking down the track nearly like everyone else all the time last year particularly when it was a new format but I'm kind of approaching it just going to the games and enjoying them on merit week in week out this year and as the jeopardy kicks in then really get stuck into it at that stage."
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