Donegal U-20s have their Ulster championship dates for 2026 confirmed

Details of Donegal's 2026 Dalata Hotel Group Ulster Under-20 Football Championship fixtures have been confirmed with Gary Boyle’s side having two home and two away games in the group stage.

Donegal lost out in last year’s final in controversial circumstances against Tyrone after extra-time in  a fantastic Ulster decider at Owenbeg. Tyrone went on to lift the All-Ireland title.

This year’s Championship will be played during the months of March and April. The competition will be organised in a ’round-robin’ format with a group of 5 and a group of 4, with teams playing the other teams in their group once.

Section A: Donegal, Monaghan, Antrim, Derry, Fermanagh

Section B: Tyrone, Cavan, Armagh, Down

Donegal have a good number of U-20 players involved with the senior squad and it could be a very busy period for those players towards the end of March and also into April and May.

The top team in each group progresses to the Ulster U-20 semi-finals. The second and third place teams will criss-cross and play each other in two quarter-finals.

There will be Provincial and National Tier 2 knockout competitions for counties who do not qualify for the Ulster U20FC Quarter Finals.

The winners of the two quarter-finals progress to the semi-finals, while the two quarter-final losers are eliminated. The two teams that lose in the semi-finals will also be eliminated.

Finally, the three teams that finished in fourth and fifth positions in the groups would be eliminated from the Ulster Championship and enter the Tier 2 competition.

The provincial winners will progress to the All-Ireland semi-finals.

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Donegal’s fixtures

Wed 18th March - Section A Round 1

Donegal v Fermanagh at Convoy

Monaghan v Derry at Castleblayney

Antrim bye

Wed 25th March - Section A Round 2

Fermanagh v Antrim at Brewster Park

Monaghan v Donegal at Castleblayney

Derry bye

Sat 28th March - Section A Round 3

Derry v Fermanagh at Owenbeg

Donegal v Antrim at Convoy

Monaghan bye

Wed 1st April - Section A Round 4

Antrim v Monaghan at Dunsilly

Derry v Donegal at Owenbeg

Fermanagh bye

Wed 8th April - Section A Round 5

Antrim v Derry at Dunsilly

Fermanagh v Monaghan at Brewster Park

Donegal  bye

Quarter-finals – Wed 15th April

(First named team has home advantage)

Group A Runner-Up V Third in Group B

Group B Runner-Up V Third in Group A

Semi-finals – Wed 22nd April

(First named team has home advantage)

(1) Winner Section A V QF Winner

(2) Winner Section B V QF Winner

Final –  Wed 29th April

Semi Final Winner 1 V Semi Final Winner 2

Tier 2

Semi-final – Mon 20th April

Fifth placed team in Group A V Fourth placed Team in Group B

Final – Mon 27th April

Fourth placed team in Group A V Semi Final winner

Tier 1 & Tier 2: All-Ireland semi-finals on 10th May