9.
2013 All-Ireland quarter-final August 4Mayo 4-17 Donegal 1-10Following the All-Ireland success of 2012, Donegal were brought back to earth with a considerable bang in 2013. A host of injuries, a Sam Maguire hangover and fixtures clash in the county, with the club championship being played throughout the Ulster SFC, made for an uncertain path.Donegal had been relegated from Division 1 after a home draw with Dublin and Paul Mannion's late score but seemed to be capable of turning on the tap at will, defeating Tyrone 2-10 to 0-10 with Colm McFadden and Ross Wherity goaling in Ulster. An unconvincing 0-12 to 0-9 win over Down followed in Cavan, with Donegal for the first time under McGuinness looking susceptible. Monaghan were crowned Ulster champions with a 0-13 to 0-7 final win over Donegal, in what remains McGuinness's only defeat the province in five seasons, having returned this season - a record of 16 wins from 17.Back in 2013, Donegal overcame Laois 0-14 to 0-8 in Carrick-on-Shannon, an evening when the Donegal manager let rip about a challenge from Monaghan’s Stephen Gollogly that left Mark McHugh with concussion, a perforated eardrum and a quad muscle injury in the provincial final.A patched-up Donegal were no match for Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-final. The half-time scoreboard was bleak, as Mayo led 2-10 to 0-4. Cillian O'Connor would score 3-4 and Donal Vaughan the other Mayo goal. Donegal, who saw Colm McFadden hit a late goal that was barely even consolation, were at a crossroads. "The Ulster final was no mirage," Gavin Cummiskey said in the Irish Times. "It happened. And Donegal have been unable to raise themselves to the heights of 2012."
10.
2014 All-Ireland quarter-final August 10Donegal 1-12 Armagh 1-11With Jim McGuinness having introduced a new backroom team comprised of Damien Diver, Paul McGonagle and John Duffy, Donegal, following on from 2013, weren't as talked about as they pottered on in Division 2.A decent campaign had ended with a comprehensive 1-16 to 1-10 loss to Monaghan at Croke Park in the league final, with Rory Kavanagh's sending off meaning he'd miss the Ulster opener at Celtic Park. With Neil Gallagher injured, Christy Toye and Anthony Thompson took up centre-field and on a day when Leo McLoone scored the only goal and Michael Murphy a splendid sideline ball, as Donegal won 1-11 to 0-11.Afterwards, Antrim were accounted for, 3-16 to 0-12, with McLoone, Dermot Molloy and 17-year-old Darach O'Connor the goalscorers and in the final, McGuinness got one over on Monaghan, winning 0-15 to 1-9.Armagh, under Paul Grimley and with Kieran McGeeney assisting, were seen as a coming side and aside from an Odhran MacNiallais in the first half, the main talking point was Aaron Findon shoving Donegal media, Dr Kevin Moran to the ground - the flying doctor indeed!Armagh were proving to be a tough nut, although Donegal went 1-8 to 0-8 in the second half. But Armagh got back to lead, with Tony Kernan pointing and Stefan Campbell's palming a goal that went off Paul Durcan's back. Donegal, staring down the barrel, kept their composure and late scores from Michael Murphy and Patrick McBrearty made for the narrowest of wins. “There was a lot of things said about this 'Donegal against Dublin' thing in the lead-up and that was a bit ridiculous," Eamon McGee said afterwards about the semi-final that was to follow.Donegal would topple Dublin 3-14 to 0-17, only to lose the final to Kerry, 2-9 to 0-12, with the Kingdom's management admitting afterwards they spent more time watching how Armagh made life so difficult for Donegal, than Dublin.
11.
2015 All-Ireland quarter-final August 8Mayo 2-13 Donegal 0-11Rory Gallagher, a considerable part of the backroom team for the 2012 All-Ireland success, had taken over from Jim McGuinness as senior team manager at the tail end of 2014 and was faced with a tough path to claim a fourth Ulster crown in five seasons.They went about their task impressively, with a preliminary round success over Tyrone, 1-13 to 1-10, coming with Martin McElhinney scoring the Donegal goal, before brushing off Armagh 2-11 to 0-8 away from home with Patrick McBrearty and Martin O'Reilly finding the net. In the semi-final, O'Reilly was again the goalscorer in a tight 1-9 to 0-10 victory. Donegal lost out 0-11 to 0-10 in the Ulster final against Monaghan and at Croke Park against Galway in the fourth round of the qualifiers, McBrearty got Donegal’s first-half goal while Ryan McHugh and Christy Toye waved green flags in a 3-12 to 0-11 win.That made for a last eight appearance against Mayo, who would win comfortably 2-13 to 0-11. Aidan O’Shea illustrated his threat at full-forward as he fielded a delivery over Neil McGee, shook off Mark McHugh, and buried the ball low past Paul Durcan and Lee Keegan's goal meant Donegal had too much to chase."They were two killer blows for Donegal to suffer and they never recovered thereafter," Fintan O'Toole wrote on the 42. "The closest they managed to cut the gap to in the second-half was six points but it was beyond them to overhaul that level of a deficit."
12.
2016 All-Ireland quarter-final August 6Dublin 1-15 Donegal 1-10Gallagher's second season as boss ended up with a similar conclusion to his first. Once more, his side made it to the last eight, having lost the Ulster final. Four points up on Tyrone on one of the hottest days the showpiece was in Clones, Donegal sat and Tyrone came back to win 0-11 to 0-9, with Sean Cavanagh and Peter Harte the clinchers. That meant Croke Park and a qualifier against Cork. It was a day where Patrick McBrearty was outstanding, scoring 11 points, seven from play, in a 0-21 to 1-15 win and a last eight place with Dublin.Donegal tailed 0-9 to 0-4 at half-time, and despite Dublin having two players - Diarmuid Connolly and Eoghan O’Gara - sent off in the second half and also losing Brian Fenton to a black card late on, the Leinster champions were in control for large spells. Donegal had given themselves some hope when Ryan McHugh slapped home a goal similar to his second in the 2014 semi-final, but there was to be no repeat of the result.