Sounds of summer: Donegal's All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals have brought all sorts

When the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers were introduced in 2001, it brought with it a quarter-final stage for the first time. Please click on the arrows to go through Donegal's All-Ireland quarter-final appearances

Donegal missed out that first season - a peculiar beginning. Following a 1-16 to 2-13 draw against Fermanagh in a boiling-hot Ballybofey, they lost out in the replay in Enniskillen 1-9 to 0-11 in Ulster.

However, the new system would see Donegal given a second chance through the back door against none other than Fermanagh, who had lost their provincial quarter-final to Monaghan. So, in the third meeting of the sides in five weeks, Mickey Moran’s side got it right, winning 0-15 to 1-6 back in Enniskillen.

John Maughan, the Fermanagh boss, described it as “dreadful” before adding: “Days like this you don't feel like being involved in football. You feel like throwing the boots and the ball away!”

With Brendan Devenney scoring six points and Brian Roper sent off, John Gildea, who had a fine game, was committed to go to Boston and joked: “Ah sure they can get a donkey anywhere!".

And so it meant Donegal would face non-Ulster opposition, Kildare, in the championship without having won the province for the first time ever. Donegal, with Devenney netting in Newbridge, raced into a 1-5 to 0-0 lead before eventually being pipped 1-17 to 1-16. A disappointing end and no Croke Park for Donegal in an oddity of a campaign for sure, although the system was capable of adding an extra dimension to the summer.

Since then, Donegal have played in official All-Ireland quarter-finals in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 - before the Super Eights was introduced in 2018 and the latest rehash in 2023 - and have produced some of the best and the worst. Please click on the arrows to go through Donegal's All-Ireland quarter-final appearances