2014 Donegal county football team season

The 2014 Donegal county football team season was the franchise's 110th season since the County Board's foundation in 1905. The team entered the season looking to improve on their poor 2013 run and return to prominence for the first time since winning Sam Maguire MMXII.

Jim McGuinness returned for his fourth season as the team's manager. Pioneer of the game's revolutionary tactic The System,[1] he entered the season with two Ulster titles (2011, 2012), and added a third this season,[2] before becoming the first manager in team history to lead his team to two All-Ireland Finals.[3][4]

League

Donegal won promotion from Division 2.

2014 Division 2 table

Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts	Notes
Donegal	7	5	1	1	9-97	7-67	+36	11	Advanced to final and promoted to Division 1 for 2015
Monaghan	7	5	1	1	3-107	3-78	+29	11	Advanced to final and promoted to Division 1 for 2015
Meath	7	4	1	2	9-87	8-95	–5	9

Round 1

Laois	1-9 – 2-19	Donegal

Round 2

Galway	0-12 – 1-16	Donegal

Round 3

Donegal	2-11 – 0-10	Monaghan

Round 4

Donegal	1-12 – 1-12	Meath

Round 5

Down	1-9 – 0-10	Donegal

Round 6

Donegal	1-19 – 3-7	Louth

Round 7

Armagh	1-8 – 2-10	Donegal

27 April 2014

2:00 pm

Final

Monaghan	1-16 – 1-10	Donegal
K Hughes 1-1, P Finlay (1f), C McManus 0-3 each, P McKenna, D Hughes 0-2 each, R Beggan ('45), D Mone, D Clerkin, C McGuinness, F Kelly 0-1 each	Report	M Murphy 1-4 (1 pen, 3f), C McFadden 0-4 (3f), P McBrearty, O MacNiallais 0-1 each

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 38,841

Referee: David Gough (Meath)

Provincial Championship

Donegal won the Ulster Championship for a third time in four seasons.

25 May 2014

2.00pm

Quarter-final

Derry	0-11 – 1-11	Donegal
M Lynch (0-04), E Bradley (0-03), B Heron (0-02), C McFaul, N Holly (0-01 each)	Report	L McLoone (1-01), M Murphy (0-04), K Lacey, A Thompson, C Toye, D O'Connor, P McBrearty, M McElhinney (0-01 each)

Celtic Park, Derry

Attendance: 15,883

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

22 June 2014

2.00pm

Semi-final

Donegal	3-16 – 0-12	Antrim
D O'Connor, L McLoone (1-02 each), D Molloy (1-01), O MacNialais (0-04), M Murphy (0-03), C Toye, C McFadden (0-02 each)	Report	T McCann, B Neeson (0-03 each), M Sweeney (0-02), C Murray, P McCann, K Niblock, P Cunningham (0-01 each)

St Tiernach's Park

Attendance: 11,795

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

20 July 2014

4.00pm

Final

Monaghan	1-09 – 0-15	Donegal
P Finlay (0-04), C McGuinness (1-00), R Beggan (0-02), V Corey, K Hughes, C McManus (0-01 each)	Report	C McFadden (0-04), P McBrearty , O MacNiallais (0-03 each), M Murphy (0-02), A Thompson, K Lacey, R McHugh (0-01 each)

St Tiernach's Park, Clones

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

All-Ireland Championship

Donegal reached the All-Ireland Final for the second time in three seasons.

9 August 2014

4.00pm

Quarter-final B

Donegal	1-12 – 1-11	Armagh
M Murphy (0-05), O MacNiallais (1-01), C McFadden (0-03), P McBrearty (0-02), N McGee (0-01)	Report	T Kernan (0-04), A Kernan (0-02), A Mallon, A Forker, S Campbell, K Carragher, M Murray (0-01 each) P Durcan (1-00 own goal)

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 72,440

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

31 August 2014

3:30pm

Semi-final

Donegal	3-14 - 0-17	Dublin
R McHugh 2-02, C McFadden 1-03 (2fs), M Murphy 0-03 (2fs), P McBrearty 0-02, K Lacey, F McGlynn, O MacNiallais, R Kavanagh 0-01 each	Report	D Connolly 0-05 (1f), P Flynn 0-04, B Brogan 0-03 (1f), A Brogan, P Andrews 0-02 each, P McMahon 0-01

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 81,500

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

21 September 2014

Final

Donegal	v	Kerry

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee: Eddie Kinsella (Laois)

Panel

No.	Player	Position	Club
1	Paul Durcan	Goalkeeper	The Four Masters
2	Eamon McGee	Right Corner Back	Gaoth Dobhair
3	Neil McGee	Full Back	Gaoth Dobhair
4	Paddy McGrath	Left Corner Back	Ardara
5	Anthony Thompson	Right Half Back	Naomh Conaill
6	Karl Lacey	Centre Back	The Four Masters
7	Frank McGlynn	Left Half Back	Glenfin
8	Neil Gallagher	Midfield	Glenswilly
9	Odhrán Mac Niallais	Midfield	Gaoth Dobhair
10	Christy Toye	Right Half Forward	Naomh Mícheál
11	Leo McLoone	Centre Forward	Naomh Conaill
12	Ryan McHugh	Left Half Forward	Cill Chartha
13	Patrick McBrearty	Right Corner Forward	Cill Chartha
14	Michael Murphy (c)	Full Forward	Glenswilly
15	Colm McFadden	Left Corner Forward	Naomh Mícheál

No.	Player	Position	Club
16	Michael Boyle	Substitute	Termon
17	Darach O'Connor	Substitute	Buncrana
18	David Walsh	Substitute	Naomh Bríd
19	Declan Walsh	Substitute	Malin
20	Dermot Molloy	Substitute	Naomh Conaill
21	Hugh McFadden	Substitute	Na Cealla Beaga
22	Leon Thompson	Substitute	Naomh Conaill
23	Luke Keaney	Substitute	The Four Masters
24	Martin McElhinney	Substitute	Naomh Mícheál
25	Martin O'Reilly	Substitute	Seán MacCumhaill's
26	Rory Kavanagh	Substitute	Naomh Adhamhnáin

Squad as per Donegal vs Dublin, 2014 All-Ireland Semi Final, 31 August 2014

Management

Manager: Jim McGuinness
Selectors: Damian Diver, John Duffy, Paul McGonigle
Goalkeeping coach: Pat Shovelin

Kit

All Stars

Donegal achieved four All Stars.

Pos.	Player	Team	Appearances
GK	Paul Durcan	Donegal	2
RCB	Paul Murphy	Kerry	1
FB	Neil McGee	Donegal	3
LCB	Keith Higgins	Mayo	3
RWB	James McCarthy	Dublin	1
CB	Peter Crowley	Kerry	1
LWB	Colm Boyle	Mayo	2
MD	Neil Gallagher	Donegal	2
MD	David Moran	Kerry	1
RWF	Paul Flynn	Dublin	4
CF	Michael Murphy	Donegal	2
LWF	Diarmuid Connolly	Dublin	1
RCF	Cillian O'Connor	Mayo	1
FF	Kieran Donaghy	Kerry	3
LCF	James O'Donoghue^FOTY	Kerry	2

County breakdown

Kerry= 5
Donegal= 4
Dublin= 3
Mayo= 3

gollark: How am I "lawful neutral"?

gollark: Personally, I'm Chaotic Lawful, which is DEFINITELY a thing.

gollark: Unaligned is only a thing in 4E.

gollark: that is not an alignment.

gollark: D&D alignments are uncool compared to... er... the NationStates 3-dimensional political compass?

References

Duggan, Keith (2 September 2014). "Neil McGee: pushing bodies on was key to Dublin upset - 'We went away to a training camp for four, five days and Jim more or less broke down their game plan and we exploited it'". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. p. 2. Retrieved 2 September 2014. One of the lazier stereotypes about the Donegal defensive game – generally labelled ‘the system’ – is that it somehow does the work on its own. But McGee had plenty of moments in the spotlight with Brogan on Sunday and took his turn roaming forward like the other Donegal back six.
"Ulster Football Final: Donegal beat Monaghan in provincial decider". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
"GAA: Donegal record stunning six-point victory over Dublin in All-Ireland SFC semi-final". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 1 September 2014. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
Harkin, Greg (31 August 2014). "Written off by everyone - but Donegal tear up the script". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 31 August 2014.

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[1] Duggan, Keith (2 September 2014). "Neil McGee: pushing bodies on was key to Dublin upset - 'We went away to a training camp for four, five days and Jim more or less broke down their game plan and we exploited it'". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. p. 2. Retrieved 2 September 2014. One of the lazier stereotypes about the Donegal defensive game – generally labelled ‘the system’ – is that it somehow does the work on its own. But McGee had plenty of moments in the spotlight with Brogan on Sunday and took his turn roaming forward like the other Donegal back six.

[2] "Ulster Football Final: Donegal beat Monaghan in provincial decider". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.

[3] "GAA: Donegal record stunning six-point victory over Dublin in All-Ireland SFC semi-final". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 1 September 2014. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2014.

[4] Harkin, Greg (31 August 2014). "Written off by everyone - but Donegal tear up the script". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 31 August 2014.