Donegal Senior Football Championship
The Donegal Senior Football Championship 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 as Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure Donegal SFC after its headline sponsor.
Initially a straight knock-out competition, the Donegal SFC added a round-robin group stage in 2013. The final is played at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey. The winning club qualifies to represent its county in the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship, the winners of which go on to compete in the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship.
The winning club receives the Dr Maguire Cup. The competition has been won by 17 clubs, 14 of which have won it more than once. St Eunan's are the most successful club with 16 titles while Gaoth Dobhair are just one behind with 15 titles. The most recent team to win the competition for a first time is Glenswilly: in 2011. The most recent first-time finalist is St Michael's, also in 2011.
The reigning champion, Naomh Conaill, defeated Gaoth Dobhair in the 2025 final.
History
The 1996 Donegal SFC has been described as "probably the greatest ever championship in Donegal", with Na Cealla Beaga playing nine games to lift the trophy that year.The 1997 Donegal SFC descended into controversy when St Eunan's, having beaten Aodh Ruadh in the final by a scoreline of 1–11 to 2–7, had the title stripped from them — due to St Eunan's fielding Leslie McGettigan, an illegal player. The affair made the national press and its effects continued for many months, into the following year.
In 2002, Na Cealla Beaga were thrown out of the Donegal SFC at the semi-final stage — after also being accused of fielding an illegal player, with New York again at the centre of the dispute. The player — Peter McGinley — as well as the club's chairman and secretary were banned for one year. Assistant secretary Bernard Conaghan said: "We were careful not to play this player until his papers came through from New York. We sat him out for a league game and our first Championship match, we did everything we thought possible to make sure he was legal and now this has happened, it's a terrible blow". The final of that competition was not played until 2003 due to a disagreement between Ard an Rátha and Naomh Adhamhnáin over Eddie Brennan.
In 2008, Termon — described in national newspaper the Sunday Independent as "one of the smallest if not the smallest" in the county — reached an SFC final for the first time in their history.
Jim McGuinness assisted Naomh Conaill to success in the 2000s before becoming an All-Ireland SFC winning manager with Donegal. Naomh Conaill, as county champions, made it all the way to the final of the 2010 Ulster Senior Club Football Championship by defeating Cavan champions Kingscourt in the preliminary round, Monaghan champions Clontibret O'Neills in the first round proper, and Tyrone champions Coalisland in the semi-final.
Naomh Conaill was also involved in the 2020 Championship final saga, which did not conclude until 2022.
Competition format
The old format, which involved a two-legged first round, was scrapped ahead of the 2013 Donegal SFC in favour of an opening round containing four groups of four teams played out as a league and one team relegated. Two of the four teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals after each have played the others once. The four winning quarter-finalists advance to the semi-finals and the winners advanced to the final.Teams finishing bottom of their group play two relegation semi-finals. The losing relegation semi-final teams met in the relegation final. The losing team is relegated to the Donegal Intermediate Football Championship to be replaced by the IFC-winning team.
The format was retained for 2014.
A "League Stage" was adopted for the 2020 competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic bringing play to a halt earlier, and restricting play later, in the year.
Qualification for subsequent competitions
Ulster Senior Club Football Championship
The Donegal SFC winners qualify for the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship. It is the only team from County Donegal to qualify for this competition. The Donegal SFC winners may enter the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship at either the preliminary round or the quarter-final stage. Teams to have qualified for the final of that competition include Na Cealla Beaga, Naomh Conaill, Glenswilly and Gaoth Dobhair.All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship
The Donegal SFC winners – by winning the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship – may qualify for the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship, at which they would enter at the semi-final stage. The last team from County Donegal to do this was Gaoth Dobhair in 2018; they were knocked out by reigning All-Ireland champions Corofin.Winners and finalists
Results by team
Records
have established the unusual trend of winning the competition in every 21st-century year ending in "5" or "0", despite never having won it before that time.Clubs with consecutive titles
Most medals won by a single player:
Finals listed by year
= replay = after extra timeMan of the match in the final receives the Padear McGeehin Memorial Trophy.
Media coverage
Domestic
Matches are covered live throughout the county on Highland Radio.Some matches are also covered by Ocean FM alongside its coverage of sport in the neighbouring counties of Sligo and Leitrim.
Newspapers such as the Donegal Democrat and Donegal News provide extensive coverage of the competition.
Abroad
Live matches from the competition have been shown on Irish-language national television service TG4 as part of its GAA Beo programme. Highlights have been shown on the GAA... programme on Monday evenings on the same channel.RTÉ began showing the Donegal SFC to English-language viewers on television in 2019.
With interest in the sport at an all-time high following the county's showing in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, the final of the 2012 Donegal SFC was broadcast live on TG4.
Coverage of the final may be found in newspapers such as The Irish Times, Irish Examiner and Irish Independent the following day.
Gradam Shéamuis Mhic Géidigh
A player of the year award has been given since 2016. Its title commemorates the RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta broadcaster Séamus Mac Géidigh. A committee of sports journalists decides the winner.It is carved to resemble Errigal. It is made from Donegal granite. It has an engraving of Séamus Mac Géidigh on its front.
| Year | Player | Club |
| 2016 | Michael Murphy | Glenswilly |
| 2017 | Mark McHugh | Cill Chartha |
| 2018 | Odhrán Mac Niallais | Gaoth Dobhair |
| 2019 | Ciarán Thompson | Naomh Conaill |
| 2020 | ||
| 2021 | Caolan Ward | St Eunan's |
| 2022 | Brendan McDyer | Naomh Conaill |
| 2023 | Oisín Gallen | Seán Mac Cumhaills |
| 2024 | Shane O'Donnell | St Eunan's |
;Notes