Donegal Intermediate Football Championship

The competition has been won by 28 clubs, 13 of which have won it more than once.

Declan Bonner was player-manager of the 1989 winning team.^[1] He won the Ulster Senior Football Championship with his county in 1990, followed by another in 1992 and the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship of 1992 as well.

A young Jim McGuinness first came to the attention of then Donegal manager Brian McEniff in the 1990 final.^[2]

The most successful team to have emerged from the Donegal IFC in the 21st-century is Glenswilly. They went on to claim several SFC honours for the first time in club history (2011, 2013, 2016). Neil Gallagher, the future National Football League-winning captain and All Star of the 2012 and 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, won the Donegal IFC in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

The 2006 final required two replays before Cloich Cheann Fhaola defeated Gaeil Fhánada.^[3]

Initially a straight knock-out competition, a round-robin group stage was introduced in 2013.

With its 2023 title win, Na Dúnaibh became the first club to win the competition on four occasions, having previously done so in 1981, 1988 and 1993.^[4] They were joined by CLG An Tearmainn after their defeat of CLG Naomh Columba in 2024.

Men to have won this competition and to have played at senior level for their county include Paddy McConigley (2009),^[5] Michael Boyle (2012),^[6] Kevin Mulhern (2014),^[7] Jamie and Paul Brennan (2015),^[8] Frank McGlynn (2018),^[9] Stephen Griffin (2019)^[10][11] and Peter Boyle (2020).^[12]

Others to have played in this competition and played at senior level for their county include Michael Lynch,^[8] Niall McCready^[6] and Brian Roper.^[6]

The winning club receives the Cathal McLaughlin Memorial Cup. The winning club is promoted to the Donegal Senior Football Championship for the following season.

The Donegal IFC winner qualifies for the Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship. It is the only team from County Donegal to qualify for this competition. The Donegal IFC winner may enter the Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship at either the preliminary round or the quarter-final stage.

The Donegal IFC winner — by winning the Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship — may qualify for the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship, at which it would enter at the semi-final stage, providing it hasn't been drawn to face the British champions in the quarter-finals. The last team from County Donegal to do this was St Michael's in 2004 who went on to reach the final, losing out to Ilen Rovers of Cork.^[13]

Results by team

More information #, Team ...

Results by team

#	Team	Wins	Years won	Last final lost
1	Na Dúnaibh	4	1981, 1988, 1993, 2023	1978
	Termon		1991, 2000, 2012, 2024	—N/a
2	Réalt na Mara	3	1977, 2010, 2015	2009
	Glenfin		1983, 2001, 2018	1997
	Naomh Muire		1994, 1998, 2013	—N/a
	Cloich Cheann Fhaola		2006, 2014, 2021	2019
2	Naomh Ultan	2	1984, 2002	1998
	An Clochán Liath		1986, 2022	2021
	Na Rossa		1989, 1999	2008
	Milford		1992, 2017	2016
	Buncrana		1995, 2004	2014
	Gaeil Fhánada		2007, 2009	2006
	St Naul's		2011, 2019	2017
3	Rosses Rovers	1	1978	—N/a
	Na Cealla Beaga		1979	—N/a
	Roger Casements[a]		1980	—N/a
	Urris		1982	—N/a
	Gaoth Dobhair		1985	—N/a
	Naomh Bríd		1987	—N/a
	Naomh Conaill		1990	1986
	Four Masters		1996	—N/a
	Carndonagh		1997	2003
	St Michael's		2003	2000
	Glenswilly		2005	—N/a
	Seán MacCumhaill's		2008	—N/a
	Burt		2016	—N/a
	Aodh Ruadh		2020	2018
	Naomh Columba		2025	2024

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Finals listed by year

More information Year, Winner ...

Year	Winner	Score	Opponent	Score	Winning captain	Man of the match	Winning manager
1977	Réalt na Mara	2-11	Convoy	0-11
1978	Rosses Rovers	0-9	Na Dúnaibh	0-7
1979	Na Cealla Beaga	1-8	Glenfin	0-8
1980	Roger Casements	3-5	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	1-10
1981	Na Dúnaibh[4]	0-13	Glenfin	0-8
1982	Urris	1-5	Red Hughs	0-7
1983	Glenfin	2-10	Na Rossa	2-8
1984	Naomh Ultan	1-5	Cill Chartha	0-5
1985	Gaoth Dobhair	2-8	St Naul's	0-5
1986	An Clochán Liath	0-8	Naomh Conaill	0-6
1987	Naomh Bríd	0-6	St Naul's	0-5
1988	Na Dúnaibh[4]	0-6	St Naul's	0-5
1989[1]	Na Rossa	3-8	Naomh Ultan	2-8
1990	Naomh Conaill	2-12	Réalt na Mara	2-10
1991	Termon	1-15	Réalt na Mara	1-7
1992	Milford	1-12	Naomh Ultan	2-8
1993	Na Dúnaibh[4]	1-13	Na Rossa	0-9
1994	Naomh Muire	0-8	St Naul's	0-3
1995	Buncrana	1-8	St Naul's	1-5
1996	Four Masters	2-15	Carndonagh	1-5
1997	Carndonagh	1-12	Glenfin	1-11
1998	Naomh Muire	1-10	Naomh Ultan	2-6
1999	Na Rossa	1-13	Malin	1-11
2000	Termon	0-16	St Michael's	0-4
2001	Glenfin	1-13	Malin	0-7
2002	Naomh Ultan	2-4	Buncrana	0-8
2003	St Michael's	0-18	Carndonagh	0-5
2004	Buncrana	1-7	St Naul's	0-4
2005	Glenswilly	1-12	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	1-7
2006	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	1-11	Gaeil Fhánada	0-8
2007	Gaeil Fhánada	0-10	Réalt na Mara	1-6
2008[14]	Seán MacCumhaills	0-10	Na Rossa	0-7
2009	Gaeil Fhánada	2-9	Réalt na Mara	1-7
2010	Réalt na Mara	1-8	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	0-9
2011[15]	St Naul's	1-5	Naomh Columba	0-3
2012[6]	Termon	0-11	Aodh Ruadh	1-7
2013[16]	Naomh Muire	1-13	St Naul's	1-7	Paul "Yank" Boyle[11]		Danny O'Donnell[11]
2014[7]	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	0-15	Buncrana	0-8			Joe McGarvey[17]
2015[8]	Réalt na Mara	4-17	Naomh Colmcille	0-4	Tommy Hourihan	Shane McGowan Team of the Year	Brian Gavigan
2016[18]	Burt	2-11	Milford	1-12	Martin Donaghey	Paul McHugh	Ronan McLaughlin
2017[19]	Milford	2-11	St Naul's	0-12	Paddy Peoples	Gary Merritt	Danny O'Donnell
2018[9]	Glenfin	1-10	Aodh Ruadh	0-7	Gerard Ward	Gerard Ward	Liam Breen[20]
2019[10]	St Naul's	1-10	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	0-10	Stephen Griffin	Kevin Mulhern	Barry Meehan
2020[12]	Aodh Ruadh	2-14	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	1-12	Johnny Gethins & Nathan Boyle	Nathan Boyle	Barry Ward
2021[21]	Cloich Cheann Fhaola	3-4 / 1-11	An Clochán Liath	0-13 / 0-5	Mark Harley	Jason McGee	Michael Lynch
2022[22]	An Clochán Liath	1-8	Naomh Columba	0-4	Conor O'Donnell	Darren Curran	Dessie Gallagher
2023[4]	Na Dúnaibh	1-11	Malin	0-9	Ben McNutt	Johnny McGroddy	Kevin 'Cookie' Gallagher
2024[23]	Termon	0-14	Naomh Columba	0-8	Ricky Gallagher	Jamie Grant	Caolan 'Jaffa' McDaid
2025[24]	Naomh Columba	3-14	Malin	2-9	Pauric Ward and Philip Doherty	Padraig Byrne	Brendan Doherty

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