What next? A history of when Donegal go on the rebound

2009 – Down and up and down again
John Joe Doherty’s first year as Donegal manager saw the side pick up just one point from their first four Division 1 outings - a 2-10 to 1-13 share of the spoils against Mayo in Letterkenny where a certain Michael Murphy made his first league start and scored two goals.

However, later in the campaign, a fine 0-11 to 0-8 victory over Tyrone in Ballybofey on the same evening Ronan O’Gara kicked Ireland to only a second ever Grand Slam in Cardiff was followed up by a 0-15 to 1-7 win away to Westmeath. Needing a win to preserve the topflight status in their final match, Donegal were on the wrong side of the 0-14 to 0-10 scoreline as Derry recorded a win that puts them into the Division 1 final against Kerry.

Donegal manager Doherty had to watch from behind the wire at Watty Graham Park in Maghera due to a pitch suspension.

In the Ulster SFC, Donegal were beaten 0-12 to 0-10 by Antrim in Ballybofey and had to go the long way around in the qualifiers, with players boycotting the local media in the fallout that followed.

They eked past Carlow and Clare in uninspiring victories before coming to life to defeat Derry 2-13 to 0-18 after extra-time at MacCumhaill Park, with Colm McFadden and Kevin Cassidy netting and followed that up with a narrow 0-14 to 0-13 success over Galway at Markievicz Park in Sligo. However, the wheels came off the wagon when they were hammered by Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park, 1-27 to 2-10.

“I’m not going to make excuses that we were tired or anything like that, we thought we had a nice wee head of steam,” Donegal midfielder Rory Kavanagh said afterwards. “They’re a big mobile side and they started to get a foothold in the middle of the park and we just had no answer for them.

“Every time we scored, they were going right back up and tagging on so they were never in any danger. I was a wee bit surprised in how well they came out of the blocks. I thought the lay-off might have been against them, but they had the bit between the teeth and they really look like a team on the mission.”