The 2016 Donegal Senior Football Championship was the 94th official edition of the

Donegal GAA The Donegal County Board () 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 Donegal. The County Board is responsible for prepari ...

's premier club

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

tournament for senior graded teams in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

. The tournament consisted of 16 teams, with the winner going on to represent Donegal in the

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament organised by Ulster GAA. It is played between the Senior championship winners from each of the nine counties of Ulster. The competition was first held in 1968 an ...

. Naomh Conaill was defending champion after defeating St Eunan's by a scoreline of 0–11 to 0–10 in the 2015 final. However, the club relinquished its crown when losing to Cill Chartha at the semi-final stage. This was Réalt na Mara's return to the senior grade after making the straight bounce back up from the I.F.C. since being relegated in 2014. On 16 October 2016, Glenswilly claimed its third S.F.C. title when defeating Cill Chartha in the final in

MacCumhaill Park MacCumhaill Park () 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 Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient ...

1-10 to 0-12. Glenfin was relegated to the 2017 I.F.C. after losing a replay of the relegation final to Na Cealla Beaga, thus ending a 15-year stay in the top flight of Donegal football.

Team changes

The following teams changed division since the 2015 championship season.

To S.F.C.

Promoted from 2015 Donegal I.F.C. * Réalt na Mara – (I.F.C. Champions)

From S.F.C.

Relegated to 2016 Donegal I.F.C. * Cloich Cheann Fhaola

Format

The 2016 championship took the same format as the 2015 championship, in which there were four groups of four clubs, with the top two clubs qualifying for the quarter-finals. The club finishing bottom in each group contested relegation play-offs to determine which team would be relegated to the 2017

Donegal Intermediate Football Championship The Donegal Intermediate Football Championship (abbreviated as Donegal IFC) is an annual football competition organised by Donegal GAA. Termon are the title holders (2024) defeating Naomh Columba in the Final. History The competition has been ...

Group stage

Group 1

Round 1: * An Clochán Liath 2-11, 0-7 Réalt na Mara, An Clochán Liath, 14/5/2016 * Ard an Rátha 0-8, 0-6 Glenswilly, Ard an Rátha, 15/5/2016 Round 2: * Réalt na Mara 1-15, 0-13 Ard an Rátha, Bundoran, 27/8/2016 * Glenswilly 1-10, 0-10 An Clochán Liath, Glenswilly, 28/8/2016 Round 3: * Réalt na Mara 0-7, 3-12 Glenswilly, Bundoran, 4/9/2016 * An Clochán Liath 0-17, 2-9 Ard an Rátha, An Clochán Liath, 4/9/2016

Group 2

Round 1' * St Eunan's 0-13, 1-10 Cill Chartha, O'Donnell Park, 15/5/2016 * St Michael's 2-13, 0-8 Na Cealla Beaga, Dunfanaghy, 15/5/2016 Round 2 * St Eunan's 2-14, 1-6 Na Cealla Beaga, Na Cealla Beaga, 27/8/2016 * Cill Chartha 2-15, 0-7 St Michael's, Cill Chartha, 28/8/2016 Round 3 * Na Cealla Beaga 0-7, 0-24 Cill Chartha, Na Cealla Beaga, 4/9/2016 * St Michael's 2-14, 3-14 St Eunan's, Dunfanaghy, 4/9/2016

Group 3

Round 1 * Malin 2-9, 1-9 Seán Mac Cumhaills, Connolly Park, 15/5/2016 * Naomh Muire 3-7, 0-11 Glenfin, Glenfin, 15/5/2016 Round 2 * Seán Mac Cumhaills 3-16, 1-10 Glenfin,

, 27/8/2016 * Naomh Muire 1-8, 1-8 Malin, The Banks, 28/8/2016 Round 3 * Seán Mac Cumhaills 4-10, 0-17 Naomh Muire,

, 4/9/2016 * Malin 2-20, 1-13 Glenfin, Malin, 4/9/2016

Group 4

Round 1 * Naomh Conaill 1-11, 1-2 Termon, Glenties, 14/5/2016 * Gaoth Dobhair 2-12, 1-9 Four Masters, Gweedore, 15/5/2016 Round 2 * Termon 1-11, 0-9 Gaoth Dobhair, Termon, 27/8/16 * Four Masters 1-11, 5-12 Naomh Conaill, Pairc Tir Conaill, 28/8/16 Round 3 * Termon 2-13, 2-11 Four Masters, Termon, 4/9/2016 * Naomh Conaill 2-18, 0-11 Gaoth Dobhair, Glenties, 4/9/2016

Knockout stage

Last Eight

Quarter-finals * Cill Chartha 0-19, 0-4 Termon,

, 24/9/2016, * Glenswilly 2-20, 1-14 Seán Mac Cumhaills, O'Donnell Park, 24/9/2016, * Naomh Conaill 1-13, 1-8 St Eunan's,

, 25/9/2016, * Malin 0-13, 1-8 An Clochán Liath, O'Donnell Park, 25/9/2016, Semi-finals * Cill Chartha 5-10, 1-11 Naomh Conaill,

, 2/10/2016, * Glenswilly 0-9, 0-7 Malin, O'Donnell Park, 2/10/2016,

Final

Relegation playoffs

Relegation Semi-finals

* Four Masters 1-13, 0-7 Glenfin, Killygordon, 24/9/2016 * Ard an Rátha 1-9, 1-5 Na Cealla Beaga, Dunkineely, 25/9/2016

Relegation final

* Na Cealla Beaga 1-11, 2-8 Glenfin, O'Donnell Park, 15/10/2016, * Na Cealla Beaga 2-13, 1-6 Glenfin, O'Donnell Park, 22/10/2016, (Replay)

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship

Gradam Shéamuis Mhic Géidigh

Michael Murphy was named as the recipient of the inaugural Gradam Shéamuis Mhic Géidigh.

References

{{Donegal Senior Football Champions 2016 Donegal Senior Football Championship Donegal Senior Football Championship