Brian McEniff's Donegal side face Armagh on Sunday

Brian McEniff professes the height of respect for Armagh but he firmly believes his Donegal side can win Sunday's All-Ireland Football Semi-Final at Croke Park.

The Bundoran hotelier's side making their way through to the last four has been one of the best comebacks since Lazurus.

McEniff, himself, admits that he was in the depths of despair after Donegal turned in the county's worst championship display bar none in the defeat by Fermanagh in May.

"I was never as down," recalls McEniff.

"But I have to compliment my cousin Arthur McRory and the sports psychologist John Cremer whom I spoke to on the Wednesday after the Fermanagh game.

"I picked their brains and the next day I sat in a room with the management team and players and we discussed what went wrong from all the various points of view".

After the all-time low of the Brewster Park defeat, Donegal could only improve and a result was grafted out two days later in the qualifiers against Longford and McEniff and his players have never really looked back.

Confidence that had seeped out of the team during a dismal league began to return to the players.

The best way we can play them is by taking the game to them Armagh

McEniff also believes that the almost farcical saga of finding a successor to Mickey Moran had an effect on the players.

"Apart from the fact that the team were way behind on preparation for the league, there was also the psychological element that nobody wanted to manage them which would have hurt the lads.

"Then we had a tough start to the league in terms of the fixtures and a team that was prepared neither physically nor mentally also were short of numbers.

"We were struggling for a number three, six, eight, 11 and 14 and while we would play well for a period in those games, the deck of cards would always crumble".

Prior to the championship game at Enniskillen, Donegal players made the usual optimistic noises about having turned things around but instead they produced an appalling display.

To make matters worse, two days after the match McEniff, with his county chairman's hat on, had to face a county board meeting which was attended by delegates from all over Donegal.

They evidently felt sorry for the millionaire businessman because there was scarcely a mention of the events of 48 hours previously.

Over the last three months, McEniff freely acknowledges that he focus has shifted away from his county chairman's role.

McEniff backed Joe Kernan's side for this year's All-Ireland

"It's impossible to keep two balls in the air at once and being manager has precluded me from doing certain things that I wanted to achieve as chairman.

"I've managed to do all my duties. I haven't missed a county board or a county executive meeting since I started as chairman but it has been a difficult task".

Away from his GAA involvement, there is also the small money of his expanding hotel empire although McEniff reckons his work enables him to have vital switch off time away from football.

"Even today I had three or four business meetings of a very heavy nature and in some respects that was good for me because it takes my mind off football".

As regards the tactics of the Armagh contest, McEniff appears to indicate that Donegal will play a more attacking game than the defensive approach which shackled Galway.

"We had planned a certain strategy to play Galway and I won't say what tactics we are planning for Armagh but the best way we can play them is by taking the game to them".

In March, McEniff tipped Joe Kernan's side to retain their All-Ireland title but one now senses a belief that the Orchard men are there for the taking.

"We know that playing proper football can give us a game that can take us to an All-Ireland Final but we'll have to play to the peak of our form that can take the game to Armagh for 75 minutes.