# 2022 Donegal county football team season

The following is a summary of Donegal county football team's 2022 season.

## Personnel changes

Declan Bonner had been reappointed for another two-year term as manager at the end of August 2021, when no other candidates emerged to succeed him.
Paddy Campbell joined the management team. Also joining the management team were Dr Ciarán Kearney and — as strength and conditioning coach — Mattie Brady. Part of the responsibility of Brady — originally from Clonoe, County Tyrone — was to work with players arriving into the senior squad from underage teams.
Paddy McGrath, who won the Sam Maguire Cup in the 2012 season, announced his retirement from inter-county football ahead of the 2022 season. Odhrán Mac Niallais also opted to depart.

## Kit

A new kit was launched, featuring a "shadow print" naming each of the county's clubs. Players shirts began to feature "Circet" on the front, as the "KN Group" rebranded. Sleeve sponsors were POD-TRAK and Global Hydrate, with Abbey Hotel on the back of the player shirts.

## Squad

List of players
Neil McGee remained injured ahead of the season, following the 2021 Ulster Senior Football Championship semi-final against Tyrone. He would retire at the end of the year.
Oisín Gallen appeared as a substitute in the 2022 National Football League fixture against Tyrone but then sustained an injury, missing the 2022 Ulster Senior Football Championship, including the final.

## Competitions
### Dr McKenna Cup

The group draw took place on 15 December 2021. Donegal won three games from four and advanced as far as the final.
Nine players made their senior debut in this competition, though only three — Odhrán Doherty, Charles McGuinness and Shane O'Donnell — played in each of the four games. McGuinness and O'Donnell made their debuts against Down, while the other seven (Caolan McColgan, Odhrán Doherty, Jamie Grant, Rory O'Donnell, Mark Curran, Aaron Doherty and Ryan McFadden) made their debuts against Antrim.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PR | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Donegal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 26 | 1.192 | 4 | Advance to semi-final |
| 2 | Antrim | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 28 | 0.964 | 2 | |
| 3 | Down | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 31 | 0.871 | 0 | |

#### Fixtures

* BEOSPORT
* 18 January 2022 (2022-01-18) 19:45 GMT (UTC) Semi-Final 2
* Report
| Donegal | 2–09 (15) – (11) 0–11 | Derry |
| (HT: 2–05 — 0–06) |||
* MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey Referee: Sean Laverty (Antrim)
* TG4
* 22 January 2022 (2022-01-22) 17:00 GMT (UTC) Final
* Report
| Monaghan | 1–11 (14) – (13) 0–13 | Donegal |
| (HT: 1–07 — 0–04) |||
* Healy Park, Omagh Referee: K Brady (Louth)

### National Football League Division 1

The team for the fixture against Kerry was the same as the one given in the matchday programme.
Injuries were a problem ahead of the Tyrone game; Michael Langan, Jamie Brennan and team captain Michael Murphy were all still injured, while Caolan McGonagle had sustained a hand injury thought to have ruled him out of the rest of the competition, and then there was Tony McClenaghan also now injured as well.
Ahead of the final round of fixtures (and Donegal's game against Armagh), injuries ruled out Oisín Gallen, Langan, McGonagle, Niall O'Donnell and Ciarán Thompson.
League appearances by other new players included: Eunan Doherty made a substitute appearance against Mayo.
Shane O'Donnell and Mark Curran made substitute appearances against Kildare.
Shane McDonnell (O'Donnell?) and Rory O'Donnell started against Kerry.
Shane O'Donnell started against Tyrone.
Eunan Doherty made a substitute appearance against Monaghan.
Shane O'Donnell made a substitute appearance against Dublin.
Shane O'Donnell started against Armagh.

#### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Kerry | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 118 | 91 | +27 | 11 | Advance to National League Final |
| 2 | Mayo | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 108 | 94 | +14 | 9 | Advance to National League Final |
| 3 | Armagh | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 108 | 98 | +10 | 7 | |
| 4 | Donegal | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 95 | 103 | −8 | 7 | |
| 5 | Tyrone | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 85 | 96 | −11 | 7 | |
| 6 | Monaghan | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 100 | 113 | −13 | 6 | |
| 7 | Kildare | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 104 | 111 | −7 | 5 | Relegation to 2023 NFL Division 2 |
| 8 | Dublin | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 106 | 118 | −12 | 4 | Relegation to 2023 NFL Division 2 |

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

The draw for the 2021 Ulster Championship was made on 28 November 2021.
Shane O'Donnell started and scored a point against Armagh. He also started against Cavan and Derry.

#### Bracket

| Preliminary round 16 April | Preliminary round 16 April | Preliminary round 16 April | Quarter-finals 23/24/30 April, 1 May | Quarter-finals 23/24/30 April, 1 May | Quarter-finals 23/24/30 April, 1 May | Semi-finals 8/15 May | Semi-finals 8/15 May | Semi-finals 8/15 May | Final 29 May | Final 29 May | Final 29 May |
| | | | Donegal | Donegal | 1–16 | | | | | | |
| | | | Armagh | Armagh | 0–12 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Donegal | Donegal | 2–16 | | | |
| | | | | | | Cavan | Cavan | 0–16 | | | |
| | | | Antrim | Antrim | 0–10 | | | | | | |
| | | | Cavan | Cavan | 1–20 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | Donegal | Donegal | 1–14 |
| | | | | | | | | | Derry | Derry | 1–16 |
| | | | Monaghan | Monaghan | 0–23 | | | | | | |
| | | | Down | Down | 2–7 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Derry | Derry | 3–12 | | | |
| Fermanagh | Fermanagh | 2–10 | | | | Monaghan | Monaghan | 0–17 | | | |
| Tyrone | Tyrone | 2–17 | Tyrone | Tyrone | 0–10 | | | | | | |
| | | | Derry | Derry | 1–18 | | | | | | |

#### Fixtures
### All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

According to Armagh's coach Kieran Donaghy, it was the decision of the players to push up against Donegal goalkeeper Shaun Patton's kick-outs in the 2022 All-Ireland SFC qualifier win — a decision that brought them back into the game. Donaghy said: "The boys have to get all the credit really because it was going away from us. We got the electric start (with Rory Grugan's goal after 10 seconds) then conceded six points in a row, but the lads wanted to push up on Patton's kick-out. We were in the stage of 'do we try to hold on until half-time then push on' but Rory Grugan said 'no, we're going to push up on it'. I think those two turnovers, we got the free then the black card and the penalty, they were a huge momentum lift. But I thought our half-back line was really good. Greg (McCabe) and Jarly Og (Burns) got a few vital turnovers before half-time and put us going the other way."
Pauric McShea wrote, following the season-ending loss to Armagh: "If there was a technical report on Donegal 2022 it would possibly read 'Too cautious and not emerging from their passivity to have a crack'". McShea also wrote: "Dismay at Donegal's demise in the championship this year should be partially offset by the team's display in the first quarter of our game with Armagh last Sunday week. This was football of the highest order and real football people would understand that Michael Murphy's presence was a major factor in this show of attacking excellence."
| Seeded | Unseeded |
| Donegal Kildare Limerick Roscommon | Cork Clare Mayo Armagh |

## Management team

    Confirmed in November 2017, with replacements noted:
* Manager: Declan Bonner
* Assistant manager: Paul McGonigle, not listed among November 2017 appointments
* Paddy Campbell, joined ahead of the 2022 season
* Head coach: John McElholm
* Coach: Gary Boyle
* Selector: Stephen Rochford, replacing Karl Lacey after 2018 season but Lacey actually carried on until the end of 2020
* Goalkeeping coach: James Gallagher, after 2020 season replacing Andrew McGovern
* Strength and conditioning coach: Mattie Brady, from 2022 season, replacing Antoin McFadden, who after 2020 season, replaced Paul Fisher
* Nutritionist: Ronan Doherty
* Team physician: Kevin Moran
* Physio: Cathal Ellis
* Psychology and performance manager: Anthony McGrath, previously involved with the minor team
* Video analysis: Chris Byrne
* Logistics: Packie McDyre
* Kitman: Barry McBride
* Dr Ciarán Kearney, ahead of 2022 season

## Awards
### GAA.ie Football Team of the Week

* 31 January: Michael Langan
* 7 February: Jason McGee, Ryan McHugh, Michael Langan
* 28 February: Conor O'Donnell (nominated for Footballer of the Week)
* 28 March: OMFF, Patrick McBrearty
* 25 April: Shaun Patton, Brendan McCole, Michael Langan, Michael Murphy (Murphy voted Footballer of the Week)
* 9 May: Shaun Patton, Stephen McMenamin, Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Jamie Brennan (Brennan nominated for Footballer of the Week)
* 30 May: Peadar Mogan