# 2017 Donegal county football team season

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

## Squad

Ethan O'Donnell

## Personnel changes

Richard Thornton from Coalisland helped train the team in 2017. Thornton took over from former Westmeath footballer Jack Cooney after two years, while Brendan Kilcoyne stayed on as a selector.
2012 All Star Colm McFadden retired at the end of the previous season. As did Eamon McGee (though he never won an All Star).
Christy Toye, Rory Kavanagh and David Walsh also retired ahead of the 2017 season. Leo McLoone also left. So did Odhrán Mac Niallais. And Anthony Thompson.
On Valentine's Day, Neil Gallagher attended training at Convoy — it was upon the Convoy turf that he broke down for the final time and relinquished his status as an inter-county footballer. The manager later described him as "very disappointed… He wanted to give it a go… He got the back re-scanned and tried to build it up". He announced his retirement from inter-county football at the age of 33 on 20 February 2017.

## Competitions
### 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.

#### 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.

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

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

#### Bracket

| Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Preliminary round | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | Derry | Derry | 0-11 | | | | | | |
| | | | Tyrone | Tyrone | 0-22 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Tyrone | Tyrone | 1-21 | | | |
| | | | | | | Donegal | Donegal | 1-12 | | | |
| | | | Donegal | Donegal | 3-19 | | | | | | |
| | | | Antrim | Antrim | 1-9 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | Tyrone | Tyrone | 2-17 |
| | | | | | | | | | Down | Down | 0-15 |
| | | | Down | Down | 0-15 | | | | | | |
| | | | Armagh | Armagh | 2-7 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Down | Down | 1-14 | | | |
| | | | | | | Monaghan | Monaghan | 0-15 | | | |
| | | | Cavan | Cavan | 0-15 | | | | | | |
| Monaghan | Monaghan | 1-20 | Monaghan | Monaghan | 1-15 | | | | | | |
| Fermanagh | Fermanagh | 1-11 | | | | | | | | | |

#### Fixtures

| 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: Pádraig Hampsey |
| 18 June 2017 2:00 pm | 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. | St Tiernach's Park, Clones Attendance: 22,609 Referee: David Gough (Meath) Man of the Match: Pádraig Hampsey |

### 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) |
| 22 July 7:00pm Round 4A | 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 | Markievicz Park, Sligo Attendance: 10,564 Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow) Man of the Match: Johnny Heaney (Killanin) |

## Management team

* Selector: Brendan Kilcoyne
* Coach: Richard Thornton, appointed for the 2017 season
* Strength and conditioning coach: Paul Fisher

## Awards
### Footballer of the Year

Patrick McBrearty

### GAA.ie Football Team of the Week

    Included:
* 27 February: Michael Murphy
* 6 March: Paddy McGrath, Ciarán Thompson
* 20 March: Paddy McGrath, Ciarán Thompson, Ryan McHugh; McHugh nominated for, and selected as, Footballer of the Week
* 28 March: Michael Murphy; selected as, Footballer of the Week
* 3 April: Michael Murphy
* 22 May: Paddy McGrath, Frank McGlynn, Ciarán Thompson
* 19 June: Patrick McBrearty
* 24 July: Patrick McBrearty

### All Stars

One nomination, for Patrick McBrearty.