Donegal GAA's top individual scorers - those with 0-10 or better

After the recent exploits of Seanán Carr of Four Masters while playing for the Donegal U-21s against Antrim in this year’s Ulster U-20 Championship, we thought we would delve into the individual scoring records of players representing the county down through the years. Please click on the arrows to go through the scorers

Carr hit the remarkable tally of 2-10 in a group game at the end of March. So where does that return of 16 points fit in the table?



Thanks must go especially to Fr Seán Ó Gallchoir for supplying most of the list that runs in excess of 30 times that players have notched 0-10 or over since the 1960s. Prior to that scorelines were not particularly high.

There may well be scores missing from our list, but from what we  have assembled Seanán Carr’s 2-10 is now joint top along with the return of Brian McLaughlin, who hit 4-4 while representing the Donegal Vocational Schools. The game was an All-Ireland semi-final and was played in Ballyhaunis in 1995. It is noteworthy that the Kerry full-back that day was Eamonn Fitzmaurice, now a pundit on RTE and a member of the Football Review Committee (FRC) which recently introduced the new rule enhancements in the GAA. Donegal VS went on to win that game and also win the All-Ireland title with McLaughlin as captain.

There are two players who have 15 points to their name - Michael Murphy hitting 2-9 in a Dr McKenna Cup game against Tyrone in 2010 and Niall O’Donnell returning 1-12 in an Ulster U-20 Championship match in 2018.

There is just one record of 14 points, that coming from David McGinley of St Eunan’s while helping the Donegal minors to a big win over Down in the Ulster Minor Championship of 1996, a year Donegal went on to win the Ulster minor title.

In the senior championship, the best returns were from Seamus Bonar with 4-1 (all from play) in the Ulster SFC semi-final of 1974 in Clones, equalling the tally of 3-4 recorded by Mickey McLoone in the Ulster SFC against Fermanagh in 1966.

Perhaps the best return in senior championship is the 0-11 of Patrick McBrearty in the All-Ireland Qualifiers against Cork in 2016 - 11 scores is some return in any game.

McBrearty features strongly in our list, at Vocational Schools level, Ulster U-21 Championship, League and Championship. The Kilcar man appears most times on the list with six scoring bursts of 10 points or more.

There are some great back stories with John Duffy scoring 3-2 in an Ulster U-21 Championship game against Derry in 1991, the tally made up of three penalties and two frees. Michael Doherty hit 2-6 against Longford in a National League game on a Tuesday evening in Ballyshannon in 2006, again with two penalties and six frees.

While our list stopped at 0-10, we had to include two nine point returns. The first was by the remarkable Joe ‘Dodo’ Winston against Cavan in the Ulster SFC sem-final replay in 1972 (he had already hit 0-10 in the first game to keep Donegal in the hunt). The returns would help Donegal go on to win their first ever Ulster senior title.

And not forgetting Manus Boyle’s return of 0-9 in the All-Ireland final of 1992, when Donegal lifted Sam Maguire for the first time ever.

THE FULL LIST

16 - Seanan Carr - Ulster U-20 FC 2025 v Antrim - 2-10 - 6f, one pen

16 -  Brian McLaughlin v Kerry 1995 All-Ireland VS semi-final - 4-4, 2f

15 - Michael Murphy - Dr McKenna Cup v Tyrone 2010,  2-9, 6f, 2'45s'

15 - Niall O'Donnell - Ulster U-20 Championship May 2018 v Cavan 1-12, 10f

14 - David McGinley, Ulster Minor Championship May 1996 v Down 3-5

13 - Seamus Bonar - Ulster SFC semi-final v Antrim 1974 -  4-1 (ALL FROM PLAY)

13 - Michael McLoone - Ulster SFC 1966, v Fermanagh, 3-4

12 -Colm A McFadden, Ulster  U-21 FC, March 2002 v Fermanagh, 2-6

12 - Patrick McBrearty, All-Ireland VS final v Cork, February 2011, 2-6

12 - Michael Doherty, Div. 2 League April 2006 v Longford,  2-6, 2pen,6f

12 - Daithi Gildea, Ulster MFC v Fermanagh 2022, 2-6,3f

11 - Patrick McBrearty 2016  Qualifiers 0-11 v Cork

11 - Brendan Devenney - NFL v Monaghan 2004,  3-2

11 - John Duffy, Ulster U-21FC, v Derry, March 1990, 3-2, 3pens,2f

11 - Tony Boyle, League semi-final April 2002 v Offaly, 1-8

11 - Shane Callaghan, Ulster MFC April 2023 v Down, 1-8,3f

11 - Patrick McBrearty, Dr McKenna Cup January 2018 v Monaghan,  1-8,6f

11 - Niall O'Donnell, Ulster MFC v Antrim May 2016, 2-5

10 - Joe Winston - Ulster SFC semi-final v Cavan - 0-10, 0-6f

10 - Manus Boyle - All-Ireland U-21 final replay 1987 v Kerry - 1-7, 0-4f

10 - Michael Murphy, All-Ireland Qualifiers v Kerry 2019,  1-7 

10 - Martin McHugh Ulster SFC quarter final v Down May 1985, 1-7

10 - Colm McFadden Ulster SFC semi-final 2004 v Tyrone, 1-7

10 - Brendan Devenney, League v Carlow, April 2004, 2-4

10 - Stephen Griffin, Dr McKenna Cup v UUJ, January 2009,  1-7

10 - Martin McHugh, Open Draw Competition, v Waterford, April 1985, 2-4

10 - Oisin Gallen, Dr McKenna Cup v Monaghan January 2024, 2-4

10 - Patrick McBrearty, League Div 1 v Kerry, January 2018, 0-10

19 - Niall O'Donnell, Ulster Minor League final, v Tyrone, April 2016, 2-4

10 - Patrick McBrearty, All-Ireland Qualifiers v Cork, July 30 2016, 0-11

10 - Patrick McBrearty, Ulster U-21FC, v Fermanagh, March 2014, 1-7

10 - Michael Murphy, NFL v Derry, March 2011, 1-7

10 - Carlos O'Reilly, Ulster MFC v Tyrone, June 2019, 2-4

9 - Joe Winston - Ulster SFC semi-final replay v Cavan 1972 - 0-9,7f,'50'

9 - Manus Boyle - All-Ireland final v Dublin 1992 0-9, 0-5f

(If anyone has other scorers that have been missed we would live to hear about them)