Donegal v Dublin: Tom Humphrieson the enigmatic footballers from Donegal who have flattered to deceive since All-Ireland glory in 1992

In Donegal you just never quite know what is going on. Tucked away like an independent statelet up on the corner of the island, they do things differently there. Especially football. The county boys entertain Dublin tomorrow 15 years on from perhaps the greatest All-Ireland winning coup the game has seen. And nobody knows.

Donegal are the form league team for this time of year, their smart wins over Mayo and Cork suggesting a panel that is bristling with depth and promise. But it's Donegal. So, you don't know. Almost every springtime you could make a decent case for Donegal and almost every autumn you can trace your finger back and see your mistakes. As Spain are to the World Cup, Donegal are to Ulster football.

Since 1992 and that memorable yomp to glory, Donegal have lost 13 finals and haven't won a thing. They've hovered at a respectable level of attainment, they've churned up their share of colour and controversy and amassed plenty of regrets.

There should be more, though. Donegal should be players at the high-stakes table.

And even those wins against Mayo and Cork, which set the league campaign rolling so promisingly, were played while the McKenna Cup was still unfolding as a backdrop.

That competition brought good things and not so good. A quarter-final win against Ross Carr's nascent Down side and then a rare but scarcely satisfying win over Armagh, the team who have been the bouncers at the door for so many seasons now, saffron-clad hulks who place their hands on the chest and ask Donegal where do they think they are going.

And then in the final there was a trimming by the competition specialists Tyrone. The ticker-tape details were damning. Tyrone were essentially fielding their B team. Donegal were strong.

The detail was more forgiving. Donegal were missing more than a handful of stars themselves and did well everywhere except in the forwards, where the old Tyrone shut-out routine worked its charms.

Still the mitigations weren't enough to prevent an outbreak of pessimism in saloon bars and clubhouses up and down the county.

Donegal are in good shape, though. Brian McIver's first season in charge brought just about the right amount of success and disappointment to avoid the pressure of the "difficult second season".

After a year of internal and external disciplinary measures Donegal succumbed to Cork in an All-Ireland quarter-final they should have won. The game was played on the same afternoon and on the same pitch as the Kerry and Armagh game. The memory of the Donegal revival was soon interred with the bones of the summer.

We forgot quickly, though, that Donegal were without Kevin Cassidy, Colm McFadden and Brendan Devenney that day and Michael Doherty wasn't 100 per cent.

We forgot, too, that the game came just six days after a cruncher with Fermanagh. We forgot the chances Donegal had to nail the thing down when the game was at 1-10 apiece in the dying minutes only to get sucker-punched well into injury-time.

When we consigned Donegal to the drawer with the summer's other beaten dockets, we forgot, too, the sprightliness of their Ulster-final business with Armagh. Three points in it for sure but Donegal looked as if they believed more than at any time since the new century flipped over.

Add it all up and we should have been quietly fancying Donegal for some sunshine this year.

"These last few years coming up against the likes of Armagh," says midfielder Neilly Gallagher, "it hasn't happened for us. Well they've just been very strong since about 2000 and we've come up short every time and it just hasn't happened on the day.

"They've had the edge but we have got the belief and we played well in the Ulster final last summer."

Belief they seem to have. And the experience of the returned players will add a further dimension. The exuberance Devenney brings will add more.

And they have found more talent. Kevin McMenamin (pre-emptively nicknamed Wappa before anyone could describe him as "the wee mon") was one of the stars of the county championship in 2003 when Termon made their way to the county final (he scored 3-1 in their semi-final win).

He was named in a few Antrim under-21 sides, Antrim being his father's home county, but was ignored at home. His form never sulked, however.

Donegal thought about him last summer when Doherty got injured, but when they went looking he was in Boston. This year he has been a revelation, dovetailing with Devenney as if they had grown up playing together. McMenamin has 1-15 in brackets after his name so far in 07.

McMenamin is in his mid-20s now and even in his breakthrough season discovers that Donegal is suddenly blooming with forwards.

Leon Thompson from Glenties was memorable against Cork last summer for both his speed and his wayward shooting. The latter is remediable and he scored a wonderful goal against Down in the McKenna Cup last month.

Ryan Bradley, Michael Doherty and the 17-year-old wonder-kid Michael Murphy will all vie for positions in the full-forward line (Murphy, still a schoolboy at St Eunan's, is on the county minor, under-21 and senior panels this year).

Things have changed under McIver beyond the obvious disciplinary changes so ballyhooed last year. Like most counties, Donegal started work before Christmas and the players chisel away at their bodies with personalised weights programmes.

Brendan Devenney, having quit the county game after a particularly frustrating afternoon in Clones against Fermanagh in 2005, watched Donegal develop last season and talked to his old friends and realised he had made his exit a little too soon. He couldn't wait to get back.

"We are more serious and more intense now than at any other time when I played with Donegal," says Devenney, whose reputation for flamboyance belies an earnest passion for preparation.

"It's the first time in a long time we have had a proper squad. In Donegal you'd often know that certain players would be playing regardless. This time players are in and out all over the place. If somebody is missing it's not a big problem. There is a real depth there this time.

"Before Christmas there was a real push on for people to make the squad. That was before they even got into the team. Now you had to worry about whether you would be good enough to get into the squad."

For Devenney, who had kept in touch with McIver after an initial call to gauge the seriousness of his retirement, the chance to be reintegrated came with a trial game in Conboy. He had spoken to McIver a few times during the summer and knew the mettle of the man meant there would be no walking back in.

"I told him I'd be going for the trials. I only realised when I was gone how much I loved it and how much it was part of my life. I didn't go to many games last summer. I found it quite difficult to watch. I could hardly go and be anonymous.

"I didn't want to deal with that either. I tried to watch it on television but it was very difficult, to be honest."

So in that dank, closed time before Christmas Devenney found himself out on a field trying to catch the eye of the Donegal manager.

" I was glad to be there. The way I was brought up there would be no airs or graces about that, about having to play a trial. If you're a GAA man and an amateur you don't get above your station. After not playing last year I had no problem showing Brian how keen I was. I wanted to tell him that I was mad to get back.

"The funny thing about being on trial was knowing that there was nothing I could take for granted. I was saying to myself that I have to do my bit here. I'm starting from scratch here. I needed the trials to let them know that I'm up for it."

The message was delivered. Devenney is back. Both he and Gallagher point to another reason apart from Brian McIver for the county panel's rude health. The game within the county is changing and is no longer ruled by the same clutch of big clubs. Gallagher's home outfit, Glenswilly, played senior championship for the first time last summer.

Apart form Gallagher they supply Ciarán Bonner and Michael Murphy to the senior panel, a huge contribution from such a small club. A fourth Glenswilly player, Colin Kelly, is knocking around the fringes of the panel, having played last year.

"There's a complete spread across the county," says Devenney. "Clubs are getting their act together. Glenties have six players on the county squad, four of them very young. They won a couple of under-21 titles. Gweedore are the same. Won a few championship, all with good young players. That big mix is important.

"There's others, Ryan Bradley from Buncrana. The lads from Termon. Every club is chipping in now and that's because standards have been raised."

The league schedule has been kind to Donegal this year, handing them four home games. Dublin are entertained in Ballyshannon tomorrow. A result there should ensure division-one status for next year as Donegal will fancy the ending to their campaign as they finish with Fermanagh and Limerick.

"Brian McIver has a new approach," says Neilly Gallagher. "He's not afraid to change things around or mix them up a bit. Every man is fighting hard for a place through this league. He's a good trainer and he has us working that way. Getting as far as we can in the league is important. When we play Armagh at the end of May after that nothing matters."

Armagh! They have met in six championship games since 2002. Armagh have won five and drawn one, suggesting a rivalry that exists only in Donegal heads. Every year they flail away at the mighty barrel chests and every year they are sent packing.

No empire is permanent, however, and in Donegal there is the feeling that Armagh's decline, no matter how temporary, may be Donegal's opportunity.

If Armagh, ageing and slightly subdued, can be dispatched in May, Tyrone, of course, loom. But the prospect of Tyrone playing a Donegal side which had Armagh half digested at that stage is interesting.

"Look," says Neilly Gallagher, "they talk about hang-ups or whatever but we have a strong panel this year. We have players back and players coming through and a group of good footballers in their prime. We don't have hang-ups, we're hungry.

"Everything is different come the summer. McKenna Cup. League. All that goes out the window." And thus the McKenna Cup adventure is contextualised.

"In the final," says Devenney, "we had so much possession and we got so little scores. It was very frustrating and as a forward I was gutted. But it meant nothing. The McKenna Cup meant nothing. Beating Armagh meant as little as Tyrone beating us meant. If we beat them in the championship, January doesn't matter a toss. It's all about championship."

Eyes on the prize, they entertain Dublin tomorrow. Fifteen seasons since they ambushed them in a famous All-Ireland. It's long enough to wait for your break to come around again.