Niamh McLaughlin to captain Donegal ladies again this year

Niamh McLaughlin will captain the Donegal senior ladies football team in 2022.

The Moville woman will have the captaincy for a second year, it has been confirmed.

Donegal host Galway in their Lidl NFL Division 1A opener at Sean MacCumhaill Park on Saturday night next, February 12.

TG4 will show the game live as Donegal, again under the management of Maxi Curran, get their new term underway.

Maxi Curran's side lost out to the Tribeswomen last summer in the TG4 All-Ireland series, although did progress to the quarter-finals before losing to Dublin.

In the league last June, Karen Guthrie and Geraldine McLaughin were in devastating form as Donegal soundly defeated Galway by 4-21 to 2-10 at Tuam Stadium to seal a semi-final place.

TG4 confirm live coverage of Donegal's opening  Lidl NFL fixture against Galway

Maxi Curran's team are in Division 1A alongside Galway, Westmeath and Mayo

In 2021, Donegal ladies lost out to Armagh in the Ulster senior final.

Mark McHugh, an All-Ireland SFC winner as a player with the Donegal senior men’s football team in 2012, has joined as a coach.

Barney Curran and Paul Fisher have also been recruited to join the backroom team

Donegal will be without Emer Gallagher for much of the coming campaign, the Termon defender continuing her rehabilitation from a cruciate injury.

Moville’s Niamh Hegarty has not yet returned but the manager retains the hope that she will be added by the time the Championship rolls around, while Annie Logue of Glenfin has also stepped away.

Robert Emmets’ Emma McCroary and Carndonagh woman Deirdre Foley are back in the fold again for 2022.