# 2024 Donegal county football team season

The following is a summary of Donegal county football team's 2024 season.

## Personnel changes

Reports in August 2023 suggested that Jim McGuinness would be returning for a second spell as manager, with RTÉ Sport stating on 17 August that McGuinness had already met with county board officials. On 20 August, the Donegal County Board brought forward its monthly meeting to the following evening. At that meeting, held on the evening of Monday 21 August, the return of McGuinness as manager was announced, with Colm McFadden, Neil McGee and Luke Barrett all confirmed as being on McGuinness's backroom team. When asked in mid-November 2023, McGuinness ruled out any further additions to his backroom team, though he said they were still searching for new players, with "close to 50 in total" having been investigated up until that time.
The appointment made McGuinness the first holder of a UEFA Pro Licence to manage an inter-county team. He took charge for his second term as Donegal manager at the age of 50.
In November 2023, it was announced that James Gallagher had succeeded Declan McIntyre as goalkeeping coach, making this Gallagher's third spell in that role.

## Kit

On 2 November 2023, a new jersey was launched at the Abbey Hotel.

## Pre-season

It was announced in October 2023 that McGuinness would take his team on a seven-day long training camp in December 2023, ahead of the 2024 season beginning. On Saturday, 2 December 2023, the squad departed for the warm weather camp, held in Tenerife.
In November 2023, it was announced that Donegal would play Roscommon in a challenge match at Fr Tierney Park on 17 December, the first game since McGuinness returned as manager. It was also the first senior inter-county match held at the venue for nearly four years, as it had been undergoing renovations. Proceeds were divided between the team's training fund and North West Hospice. Tickets were still available on the day of the game. By half-time, Donegal had a lead of 0–9 to 0–2. By full-time, Donegal had a lead of 2–12 to 2–6.

## Competitions
### Dr McKenna Cup

The McKenna Cup group draw was held in the Armagh City Hotel in Armagh on Wednesday evening, 13 December 2023, with Donegal appearing in Section A.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Donegal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 2 | Advance to semi-final |
| 2 | Armagh | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 16 | +1 | 2 | Advance to semi-final |
| 3 | Tyrone | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 32 | −3 | 0 | |
* 1 2 Donegal received no points for their win over Armagh as they fielded an ineligible player; Armagh did not get the points as they did not make an appeal. For the purposes of points difference, the game was not counted.

#### Fixtures
### National Football League Division 2

Donegal were to begin with a Saturday night home fixture against Cork, which was the first fixture to be announced, on 27 October 2023. This was, however, moved to the Sunday afternoon, the following day, when all fixtures were announced on 6 December 2023 (see below).
On 6 December 2023, the GAA announced that all Division 2 Round 7 games would be played separately from the Round 7 games in Division 1, 3 and 4, on Saturday, 23 March 2024, at 19:00, including Donegal v Meath at MacCumhaill Park. The rest of the fixtures were also confirmed on 6 December 2023.

#### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Donegal | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 128 | 83 | +45 | 13 | Advance to NFL Division 2 Final and promotion to 2025 NFL Division 1 |
| 2 | Armagh | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 132 | 86 | +46 | 12 | Advance to NFL Division 2 Final and promotion to 2025 NFL Division 1 |
| 3 | Cavan | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 103 | 117 | −14 | 7 | |
| 4 | Cork | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 119 | 125 | −6 | 7 | |
| 5 | Meath | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 86 | 105 | −19 | 6 | |
| 6 | Louth | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 121 | 101 | +20 | 6 | |
| 7 | Fermanagh | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 94 | 129 | −35 | 5 | Relegation to 2025 NFL Division 3 |
| 8 | Kildare | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 82 | 119 | −37 | 0 | Relegation to 2025 NFL Division 3 |
* 1 2 Cavan are ranked ahead of Cork because they won the head-to-head game between the teams
* 1 2 Meath are ranked ahead of Louth because they won the head-to-head game between the teams

#### Fixtures
### Ulster Senior Football Championship

The draw for the 2024 Ulster Championship was made on 21 October 2023.

#### Bracket

| Preliminary roundvte | Preliminary roundvte | Preliminary roundvte | Quarter-Finals | Quarter-Finals | Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Semi-Finals | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | Down | Down | 0-13 | | | | | | |
| | | | Antrim | Antrim | 0-09 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Down | Down | 2-06 | | | |
| | | | | | | Armagh | Armagh | 0-13 | | | |
| | | | Fermanagh | Fermanagh | 0-09 | | | | | | |
| | | | Armagh | Armagh | 3-11 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | Armagh | Armagh | 0-20 (5) |
| | | | | | | | | | Donegal | Donegal | 0-20 (6) |
| | | | Derry | Derry | 0-17 | | | | | | |
| | | | Donegal | Donegal | 4-11 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Donegal | Donegal | 0-18 | | | |
| Monaghan | Monaghan | 1-12 | | | | Tyrone | Tyrone | 0-16 | | | |
| Cavan | Cavan | 3-12 | Cavan | Cavan | 3-16 | | | | | | |
| | | | Tyrone | Tyrone | 1-23* | | | | | | |