2016 Donegal county football team season

Brendan Kilcoyne replaced Gary McDaid on the management team.^[3][4] Kilcoyne's appointment as a team selector was announced in November 2015.^[5] Maxi Curran was also said to be involved in team preparations ahead of the 2016 Dr McKenna Cup, alongside Gallagher, Kilcoyne and Jack Cooney.^[4]

Twelve players were added ahead of the season: Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Ciarán Thompson, Stephen McMenamin, Caolan McGonagle, Tony McClenaghan, Kieran Gillespie, Michael Carroll, Stephen McBrearty, Jack O'Brien (Naomh Muire), Danny Rodgers (An Clochán Liath; goalkeeper), Rory Carr (St Eunan's) and Caolan Ward. Ward was the eldest of those additions.^[6] O'Brien played for Donegal in the 2016 National Football League semi-final against Dublin at Croke Park.^[7]

Paul Durcan emigrated to Qatar at the end of the previous season.^[8][9]

The 'KN Group' began appearing as title sponsor on the front of player shirts, while the 'MCR Group' became Tier 2 sponsors, thus featuring on the back of player shirts.^[10]

The fixtures were announced on 16 November 2015.^[11]

  Compete in Division 1 semi-finals
  Automatic relegation to Division 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Dublin	7	7	0	0	8-91	4-75	28	14
Kerry	7	5	0	2	5-109	5-77	32	10
Roscommon	7	4	0	3	9-98	8-77	24	8
Donegal	7	3	0	4	8-84	6-78	12	6
Mayo	7	3	0	4	5-88	7-91	-9	6
Monaghan	7	3	0	4	6-83	7-91	-11	6
Cork	7	3	0	4	9-89	9-105	-16	6
Down	7	0	0	7	2-60	6-108	-60	0

¹Donegal, Mayo, Monaghan and Cork are ranked by scoring difference.

30/01/16 Round 1	Down	0-7 - 3-15	Donegal	Páirc Esler, Newry Referee: D Gough
	D O'Hare (0-4), A McConville (0-2), C McGovern (0-1)	Report	M Murphy (0-8), P McBrearty (1-3), R McHugh (2-0), L McLoone (0-2), C Thompson (0-1), F McGlynn (0-1)

07/02/16 Round 2	Donegal	2-14 - 1-7	Cork	Fr Tierney Park, Ballyshannon Referee: J McQuillan
	O MacNiallais (1-4), P McBrearty (0-4), M O'Reilly (1-1), A Thompson (0-2), C Thompson (0-1), F McGlynn (0-1), M Murphy (0-1)	Report	D Goulding (0-5), D Og Hodnett (1-0), B O'Driscoll (0-1)

28/02/16 Round 3	Donegal	1-14 - 1-12	Mayo	MacCumhail Park, Ballybofey Referee: B Cassidy
	M Murphy (0-5), P McBrearty (0-4), L McLoone (1-0), O MacNiallais (0-2), R McHugh (0-2), R Kavanagh (0-1)	Report	E Regan (0-4), D O'Connor (1-0), R Hennelly (0-2), A O'Shea (0-1), B Harrison (0-1), C Loftus (0-1), L Keegan (0-1), S Nally (0-1), S O'Shea (0-1)

06/03/16 Round 4	Kerry	1-13 - 1-8	Donegal	Austin Stack Park, Tralee Attendance: 7,056 Referee: E Kinsella
	B Sheehan (0-8), D Walsh (0-3), P Crowley (1-0), BJ Keane (0-1), C Cooper (0-1)	Report	M Murphy (1-4), P McBrearty (0-3), N Gallagher (0-1)

13/03/16 Round 5	Donegal	0-17 - 1-19	Roscommon	O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny Referee: P Hughes
	M Murphy (0-7), P McBrearty (0-6), C Toye (0-1), E McHugh (0-1), O MacNiallais (0-1), R McHugh (0-1)	Report	C Murtagh (0-6), F Cregg (0-5), C Cregg (1-2), N Daly (0-3), C Daly (0-1), C Devaney (0-1), E Smith (0-1)

26/03/16 Round 6	Dublin	1-10 - 0-7	Donegal	Croke Park, Dublin Referee: C Lane Man of the Match: Kevin McManamon
	C Costello (0-3), K McManamon (0-3), P McMahon (1-0), B Fenton (0-1), C Kilkenny (0-1), D Rock (0-1), P Andrews (0-1)	Report	P McBrearty (0-3), E McGee (0-1), M Murphy (0-1), O MacNiallais (0-1), R Kavanagh (0-1)

03/04/16 Round 7	Monaghan	1-10 - 1-9	Donegal	St Tiernach's Park, Clones Referee: R Hickey
	C McManus (0-6), D McKenna (1-1), C Walshe (0-1), D Hughes (0-1), R McAnespie (0-1)	Report	M Murphy (0-3), M McElhinney (1-0), P McBrearty (0-2), A Thompson (0-1), E McHugh (0-1), O MacNiallais (0-1), R McHugh (0-1)

10/04/16 4:00 pm Semi-final	Dublin	1-20 - 0-13	Donegal	Croke Park, Dublin Referee: M Deegan Man of the Match: Ciaran Kilkenny
	D Rock (0-5), B Brogan (1-2), C Kilkenny (0-3), P Mannion (0-2), P Andrews (0-2), P McMahon (0-1), J Cooper (0-1), J McCarthy (0-1), J Small (0-1), C Costello (0-1), E Lowndes (0-1)	Report	P McBrearty (0-8), M Murphy (0-4), M McElhinney (0-1)

The draw for the 2016 Ulster Senior Football Championship took place on 15 October 2015.^[12]

	Preliminary round					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
						Derry		0-12
						Tyrone		3-14
											Tyrone (R)		0-16 5-18
											Cavan (R)		3-07 2-17
						Cavan		2-16
						Armagh		0-14
																Tyrone		0-13
																Donegal		0-11
						Monaghan		2-22
						Down		0-09
											Monaghan (R)		0-14 2-10
											Donegal (R)		1-11 0-17
						Donegal		2-12
	Fermanagh		1-12			Fermanagh		0-11
	Antrim		0-9

12 June 2016

14:00

Quarter-Final

Donegal	2-12 – 0-11	Fermanagh
O MacNiallais (2-1), P McBrearty (0-3), E McHugh, M O'Reilly (0-2 each), M McElhinney, C McFadden, F McGlynn, M Murphy (0-1 each)	Report	T Corrigan (0-7), E Donnelly, B Mulrone, R Jones, S Quigley (0-1 each)

MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey

Attendance: 15,908

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

25 June 2016

19:00

Semi-Final

Monaghan	0-14 – 1-11	Donegal
C McManus (0-8), C McCarthy, K O’Connell (0-2 each), S Carey, O Duffy (0-1 each)	Report	P McBrearty (0-5), M Murphy (0-3), O MacNiallais (1-0), K Lacey, E McHugh, C Toye (0-1 each)

Breffni Park, Cavan

Attendance: 16,287

Referee: Ciaran Branagan (Down)

2 July 2016

19:00

Semi-Final
Replay

Monaghan	2-10 – 0-17	Donegal
C McManus (1-4), S Carey (1-1), J McCarron (0-2), C Boyle, O Duffy, C Walshe (0-1 each)	Report	M Murphy (0-5), P McBrearty (0-4), M O’Reilly (0-3), R Kavanagh, M McElhinney, F McGlynn, M McHugh, A Thompson (0-1 each)

Breffni Park, Cavan

Attendance: 17,174

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois)

17 July 2016

14:00

Final

Tyrone	0-13 – 0-11	Donegal
S Cavanagh (0-3), P Harte, N Morgan (0-2 each), R Brennan, C McCarron, D McCurry, C McGeary, C McShane, N Sludden (0-1 each)	Report	P McBrearty, R McHugh (0-3 each), O MacNiallais, M Murphy (0-2 each), C Toye (0-1)

St Tiernach's Park, Clones

Attendance: 33,433

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath)

30 July 2016 4.00 PM Round 4B	Cork	1-15 – 0-21	Donegal	Croke Park Attendance: 27,615 Referee: P Neilan (Roscommon)
	Paul Kerrigan 1-1, Colm O’Driscoll, Tom Clancy (Clonakilty), Kevin O’Driscoll, Colm O’Neill (0-1f), Donncha O’Connor 0-2 each, Mark Collins, Tomás Clancy (Fermoy), Seán Powter, Aidan Walsh 0-1 each	Report	Patrick McBrearty 0-11 (0-4f), Ryan McHugh 0-3, Eoin McHugh, Michael Murphy (0-1f) 0-2 each, Karl Lacey, Frank McGlynn, Odhrán MacNiallais 0-1 each.

6 August 6.00 PM	Dublin	1-15 – 1-10	Donegal	Croke Park, Dublin Referee: C Branagan (Down) Man of the Match: Ciaran Kilkenny (Castleknock)
	D Rock (0-5f), P Mannion (1-1), D Connolly, K McManamon, P McMahon (0-2 each), P Andrews, C Kilkenny, J Cooper (0-1 each)	Report	M Murphy (0-6 5f, 1 45), R McHugh (1-0), P McBrearty (0-3, 2f), A Thompson (0-1)

• Selector: Brendan Kilcoyne^[13]
• Coach: Jack Cooney^[13]
• Strength and conditioning coach: Paul Fisher^[14]
• Goalkeeping coach: James Gallagher^[15]