The 2014 Donegal Senior Football Championship was contested by senior

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

clubs under the auspices of

Donegal GAA The Donegal County Board ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste Dhún na nGall) or Donegal GAA is one of 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Don ...

. The defending champions were Glenswilly. They were dethroned in the 2014 final.

Format

It was announced in 2013 that the 2014 County Championship would begin as soon as the Donegal senior football team were eliminated from the

Sam Maguire Cup The Sam Maguire Cup ( ga, Chorn Sam Mhic Uidhir), often referred to as Sam or The Sam , is a trophy awarded annually by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the main competiti ...

, which, as it transpired, was in September after the

2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2014 All-Ireland Football Final, the culmination of the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 21 September 2014. Ulster champions Donegal, last champions in 2012 took on Munster champions Kerr ...

. The deferral was decided upon in September 2013 when twenty clubs voted in favour, while six did not (one club was not in attendance). The controversy over this decision became a "national media story" and irked inter-county manager

Jim McGuinness Jim McGuinness (born 16 November 1972) is an association football coach and former Gaelic footballer, coach and manager, who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as both player and manager with the Donegal county team. Having gu ...

. The format remained the same as the previous year, when a group stage was introduced. 28 September Round 1 senior championship, 5 October Round 2 senior championship, 12 October Round 3 senior championship, 19 October Senior championship quarter-final, 26 October Senior championship semi-final, 2 November Senior championship final.

Group stage

Group 1

;Round 1 * Naomh Muire 0-10, 0-12 Naomh Conaill, The Banks, 27/9/2014, * Malin 2-6, 1-17 St Eunan's, Connolly Park, 28/9/2014, ;Round 2 * Naomh Conaill 0-10, 0-7 Malin,

Glenties Glenties () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is situated where two glens meet, north-west of the Bluestack Mountains, near the confluence of two rivers. Glenties is the largest centre of population in the parish of Iniskeel. Glenties has ...

, 4/10/2014, * St Eunan's 1-21, 1-5 Naomh Muire,

O'Donnell Park O' Donnell Park ( ga, Páirc uí Dhomhnail) is a GAA stadium in County Donegal, Ireland. The home ground of the St Eunan's club, it is situated between the Letterkenny Regional Sports and Leisure Complex and Ballymacool Park on the outskirts o ...

, 5/10/2014, ;Round 3 * Naomh Muire 1-9, 6-10 Malin, Connolly Park, 12/10/2014, * Naomh Conaill 0-9, 0-7 St Eunan's,

, 12/10/2014,

Group 2

;Round 1 * Glenfin 0-8, 0-13 Seán MacCumhaills, Glenfin, 27/9/2014 * Four Masters 0-9, 0-9 Ardara, Pairc Tir Conaill, 28/9/2014 ;Round 2 * Seán MacCumhaills 0-9, 2-14 Four Masters,

MacCumhaill Park MacCumhaill Park ( ga, Páirc Sheáin Mhic Cumhaill) is a GAA stadium in Ballybofey, County Donegal, Ireland. It is the home ground of the Seán MacCumhaills club and Donegal's Gaelic football and hurling teams. The ground is named after Se� ...

, 4/10/2014 * Ardara 0-13, 1-9 Glenfin, Ardara, 5/10/2014 ;Round 3 * Seán MacCumhaills 0-13, 2-7 Ardara,

, 11/10/2014 * Glenfin 0-7, 2-13 Four Masters, Glenfin, 11/10/2014

Group 3

;Round 1 * Killybegs 1-6, 1-6 Gaoth Dobhair, Killybegs, 27/9/2014 * An Clochán Liath 0-11, 0-8 Termon, An Clochán Liath, 28/9/2014 ;Round 2: * Gaoth Dobhair 1-8, 0-8 An Clochán Liath, Gweedore, 5/10/2014 * Termon 0-8, 1-5 Killybegs, Termon, 5/10/2014 ;Round 3: * Termon 0-14, 1-9 Gaoth Dobhair, Termon, 12/10/2014 * An Clochán Liath 0-9, 0-7 Killybegs, An Clochán Liath, 12/10/2014

Group 4

;Round 1 * St Michael's 4-10, 0-6 Réalt na Mara,

Dunfanaghy Dunfanaghy () is a small town, former fishing port, and commercial centre on the north coast of County Donegal, Ireland. It lies on Donegal's North West coast, specifically the west side of Sheephaven Bay, on the N56 road (the West Donegal Coas ...

, 27/9/2014 * Glenswilly 0-6, 0-9 Kilcar, Glenswilly, 28/9/2014 ;Round 2 * Réalt na Mara 0-9, 6-15 Glenswilly,

Bundoran Bundoran () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. The town is located near the N15 road near Ballyshannon, and is the most southerly town in Donegal. The town is a tourist seaside resort, and tourism has been at the heart of the local economy s ...

, 4/10/2014 * Kilcar 0-5, 2-8 St Michael's, 5/10/2014 ;Round 3 * Kilcar 5-15, 0-3 Réalt na Mara,

Kilcar ''Cill Charthaigh'' (anglicised as Kilcar) is a Gaeltacht village on the R263 regional road in the south west of County Donegal in Ireland. It is also a townland of 233 acres and a civil parish in the historic barony of Banagh. The village it ...

, 11/10/2014 * Glenswilly 1-4, 1-2 St Michael's, Glenswilly, 11/10/2014

Knockout stage

Relegation playoff

Relegation Semi-final

* Killybegs w, l Réalt na Mara, Tir Conaill Park, 19/10/2015, * Naomh Mhuire w, l Glenfin, Glenswilly, 19/10/2015,

Relegation final

* Glenfin w, l Réalt na Mara

Relegation final

Finals

;Quarter-finals * Four Masters 0-7, 2-10 St Eunan's,

, 18/10/2014 * An Clochán Liath 0-10, 1-13 St Michael's,

, 19/10/2014 * Glenswilly 3-9, 0-4 Termon,

, 19/10/2014, * Naomh Conaill 0-12, 1-9 Ardara, Tir Conaill Park, 19/10/2014 ;Quarter-final Replay * Naomh Conaill 0-9, 1-5 Ardara,

, 22/10/2014 ;Semi-finals * St Eunan's 1-12, 2-8 St Michael's,

, 26/10/2014 * Naomh Conaill 0-8, 0-10 Glenswilly,

, 26/10/2014 ;Final * St Eunan's 0-9, 0-6 Glenswilly,

, 2/11/2014

Final

Ahead of the final Glenswilly player and Donegal captain

Michael Murphy Michael, Mick, or Mike Murphy may refer to: Artists and entertainers * Michael Murphy (actor) (born 1938), American actor * Mike Murphy (musician) (1946–2006), American drummer for the Bee Gees and Chicago * Michael Bryan Murphy, lead singer ...

was named

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

captain for the 2014 International Rules Test, the second consecutive year this had happened. Naomh Conaill lost a last ditch appeal to contest the final. Their grievance came from a black-card incident in their semi-final, involving Glenswilly's Ciaran Bonner. Glenswilly led the Glenties-based team by one point with two minutes of normal time remaining, when Bonner got the black card and was replaced by substitute Oisín Crawford. Bonner, Naomh Conaill maintained, was not eligible to be replaced as he had already picked up a yellow card. Glenswilly lost.

References

{{Donegal Senior Football Champions 2014

Donegal Senior Football Championship The Donegal Senior Football Championship (abbreviated as Donegal SFC) is an annual football competition organised by Donegal GAA and contested by the highest-level clubs, to determine the best team in County Donegal. Since 2016, it has been known ...

Donegal Senior Football Championship