2017 Donegal county football team season

Donegal county football team
2017 season
Stadium	MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey
NFL D1	3rd
All Ireland SFC	Round 4 qualifier
Ulster Championship	Semi-final
	← 2016 2018 →

The following is a summary of Donegal county football team's 2017 season.

Richard Thornton from Coalisland helped train the team in 2017.^[1] Thornton took over from former Westmeath footballer after two years, while stayed on as a selector.^[2]

National Football League Division 1[]

In the opening game against Kerry, three players had their senior debuts (Jason McGee, Michael Langan and Jamie Brennan), with Caolan Ward and Paul Brennan making their first competitive starts.^[3]

Table[]

Qualify for Division 1 final Automatic relegation to Division 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Dublin	7	4	3	0	6-109	4-72	43	11
Kerry	7	3	2	2	6-103	7-87	13	8
Donegal	7	3	2	2	5-90	7-74	10	8
Monaghan	7	3	2	2	7-79	5-82	3	8
Mayo	7	4	0	3	3-90	4-90	-3	8
Tyrone	7	3	1	3	3-87	4-81	3	7
Cavan	7	1	2	4	4-72	2-101	-23	4
Roscommon	7	1	0	6	6-85	7-128	-46	2

Kerry, Donegal, Monaghan and Mayo are ranked by score difference.

Reports[]

5 February 2017 Round 1	Donegal	1-17 - 2-17	Kerry	showO'Donnell Park, Letterkenny
14.00	Michael Murphy 1-3 (1-0, pen, 0-3 frees), Patrick McBrearty 0-4 (0-3 frees), Ciarán Thompson 0-3, Darach O'Connor 0-2, Paul Brennan, Martin O'Reilly, Ryan McHugh, Eoin McHugh and Conor Gibbons 0-1 each.	Report	Paul Geaney 2-4 (0-2 frees), James O’Donoghue 0-3, Jack Savage 0-3 (0-1 free), Donnchadh Walsh 0-2, Tom O’Sullivan, David Moran, Jonathan Lyne, Paul Murphy and Jack Barry 0-1 each.	Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

12 February 2017 Round 2	Roscommon	2-09 - 0-16	Donegal	showDr Hyde Park, Roscommon
14.00	Ciaran Murtagh 1-4 (0-2 frees), Conor Devaney 1-0, Enda Smith, Kevin Higgins 0-2 each, Fintan Cregg 0-1	Report	Ciarán Thompson, Martin O'Reilly, Eoin McHugh 0-3 each, Patrick McBrearty 0-2 (0-1f), Michael Murphy 0-2 (0-2f) each, Michael Carroll, Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Jamie Brennan 0-1 each

26 February 2017 Round 3	Donegal	2-05 - 1-08	Dublin	showMacCumhail Park, Ballybofey
14.00	Jason McGee 1-1, Ryan McHugh 1-0, Ciarán Thompson, Michael Murphy 0-2f each	Report	Niall Scully 1-1, Dean Rock (0-3f), Shane B. Carthy, Ciaran Reddin, Ciarán Kilkenny, David Byrne 0-1 each

4 March 2017 Round 4	Cavan	0-11 - 1-16	Donegal	showKingspan Breffni Park, Cavan
19:00		Report

18 March 2017 Round 5	Donegal	0-12 - 0-06	Tyrone	showMacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey
19:00		Report

26 March 2017 Round 6	Donegal	1-11 - 1-11	Monaghan	showFr Tierney Park, Ballyshannon
15:00		Report

2 April 2017 Round 7	Mayo	1-12 - 0-13	Donegal	showElverys MacHale Park, Castlebar
14:00		Report		Attendance: 14,102

2017 Ulster Senior Football Championship[]

The draw for the 2017 Ulster Senior Football Championship took place in Dublin in mid-October 2016.^[4] In the quarter-final victory against Antrim, four players had their first championship starts (Jamie Brennan, Michael Carroll, Jason McGee and Caolan Ward).^[5]

Bracket[]

Preliminary Round

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Ulster Senior
Football Final

Derry

0-11

Tyrone

0-22

Tyrone

1-21

Donegal

1-12

Donegal

3-19

Antrim

1-09

Tyrone

2-17

Down

0-15

Down

0-15

Armagh

2-07

Down

1-14

Monaghan

0-15

Cavan

0-15

Monaghan

1-20

Monaghan

1-15

Fermanagh

1-11

Reports[]

21 May 2017

4:00 pm

Donegal	3-19 - 1-09	Antrim
M Murphy 0-6 (5f), P McBrearty 1-2 (2f), J Brennan 1-1, C Thompson 0-4 (3f), P McGrath 1-0, M Langan 0-2, H McFadden, K Lacey, F McGlynn, M McHugh 0-1 each	Report	CJ McGourty 0-6 (6f), C Small 1-0, T McCann 0-2, S Beatty 0-1

MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey, Ballybofey

Attendance: 10,083

Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon)

18 June 2017 2:00 pm	Tyrone	1-21 - 1-12	Donegal	St. Tiernach's Park, Clones Attendance: 22,609 Referee: David Gough (Meath) Man of the Match: Padraig Hampsey
	Tiernan McCann 1-1, Niall Sludden 0-4, Kieran McGeary 0-3, Mark Bradley 0-2, Mattie Donnelly 0-2, Peter Harte 0-2, Padraig Hampsey 0-2, David Mulgrew 0-1, Sean Cavanagh 0-1 (f), Declan McClure 0-1, Ronan O'Neill 0-1, Niall Morgan 0-1 (45).	Report	Patrick McBrearty 0-6 (2fs), Michael Murphy 0-3 (2 '45's), Micheal Carroll 1-0, Martin Reilly 0-1, Michael Langan 0-1, Hugh McFadden 0-1.

2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship[]

22 July 7:00pm Round 4A	Donegal	0-14 – 4-17	Galway	Markievicz Park, Sligo Attendance: 10,564 Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow) Man of the Match: Johnny Heaney (Killanin)
	Paddy McBrearty 0-6 (2f), Michael Murphy 0-4 (3f, 1 '45), Martin O’Reilly 0-2, Martin McElhinney 0-1, Michael Langan 0-1	Report	Johnny Heaney 2-2, Sean Armstrong 0-6 (4f), Liam Silke 1-0 (pen), Danny Cummins 1-0, Gary O’Donnell 0-2, Shane Walsh 0-1, Paul Conroy 0-1, Ian Burke 0-1, Damien Comer 0-1, Eamonn Brannigan 0-2, Michael Daly 0-1

Awards[]

Footballer of the Year[]

Patrick McBrearty^[6]

References[]

^ Craig, Frank (10 September 2020). "Naomh Conaill face a tough St Eunan's test". Donegal News. p. 68. Opposite number Thornton, a Coalisland native, is into his third year now with the St Eunan's senior footballers. The first of those, 2018, was as assistant to Maxi Curran. He stepped up to the helm last season… He was no stranger to the local scene here in the county, even before then, having helped out as Donegal trainer under Rory Gallagher back in 2017.
^ Keys, Colm (4 January 2017). "Only six new inter-county gaelic football managers in 2017". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
^ O'Brien, Kevin (3 February 2017). "Underage Kerry stars make the jump to senior as 4 league starting debuts handed out". The42.ie. Retrieved 3 February 2017. Jason McGee, Michael Langan and Jamie Brennan will make their senior debuts for Donegal, while Caolon[sic] Ward and Paul Brennan are set to start a competitive fixture for the first time.
^ "2017 Ulster Championship Draw". 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
^ Doggett, Eamon; Byrne, Cormac (21 May 2017). "Donegal v Antrim as it happened: Updates from the Ulster Football Championship — The sides clash at MacCumhaill Park at 4pm today". Retrieved 21 May 2017. Donegal will be heavy favourites and will field four debutants in Caolan Ward (St. Eunan's), Jason McGee (Cloughaneely), Michael Carroll (Gaoth Dobhair) and Jamie Brennan (Bundoran).
^ "Donegal GAA Annual Award Winners & Details of the Awards Banquet". 7 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

[1] Craig, Frank (10 September 2020). "Naomh Conaill face a tough St Eunan's test". Donegal News. p. 68. Opposite number Thornton, a Coalisland native, is into his third year now with the St Eunan's senior footballers. The first of those, 2018, was as assistant to Maxi Curran. He stepped up to the helm last season… He was no stranger to the local scene here in the county, even before then, having helped out as Donegal trainer under Rory Gallagher back in 2017.

[2] Keys, Colm (4 January 2017). "Only six new inter-county gaelic football managers in 2017". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 January 2017.

[3] O'Brien, Kevin (3 February 2017). "Underage Kerry stars make the jump to senior as 4 league starting debuts handed out". The42.ie. Retrieved 3 February 2017. Jason McGee, Michael Langan and Jamie Brennan will make their senior debuts for Donegal, while Caolon[sic] Ward and Paul Brennan are set to start a competitive fixture for the first time.

[4] "2017 Ulster Championship Draw". 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.

[5] Doggett, Eamon; Byrne, Cormac (21 May 2017). "Donegal v Antrim as it happened: Updates from the Ulster Football Championship — The sides clash at MacCumhaill Park at 4pm today". Retrieved 21 May 2017. Donegal will be heavy favourites and will field four debutants in Caolan Ward (St. Eunan's), Jason McGee (Cloughaneely), Michael Carroll (Gaoth Dobhair) and Jamie Brennan (Bundoran).

[6] "Donegal GAA Annual Award Winners & Details of the Awards Banquet". 7 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

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