Dr McKenna Cup The group draw took place on 15 December 2021. Donegal won three games from four and advanced as far as the final. McGuinness and O'Donnell made their debuts against Down, while the other seven (
Caolan McColgan,
Odhrán Doherty,
Jamie Grant,
Rory O'Donnell,
Mark Curran,
Aaron Doherty and
Ryan McFadden) made their debuts against Antrim.
Fixtures National Football League Division 1 The team for the fixture against Kerry was the same as the one given in the
matchday programme. Injuries were a problem ahead of the Tyrone game;
Michael Langan,
Jamie Brennan and team captain Michael Murphy were all still injured, while
Caolan McGonagle had sustained a hand injury thought to have ruled him out of the rest of the competition, and then there was
Tony McClenaghan also now injured as well. Ahead of the final round of fixtures (and Donegal's game against Armagh), injuries ruled out
Oisín Gallen, Langan, McGonagle,
Niall O'Donnell and
Ciarán Thompson.
League appearances by other new players included: Eunan Doherty made a substitute appearance against Mayo. Shane O'Donnell and Mark Curran made substitute appearances against Kildare. Shane McDonnell (O'Donnell?) and Rory O'Donnell started against Kerry. Shane O'Donnell started against Tyrone. Eunan Doherty made a substitute appearance against Monaghan. Shane O'Donnell made a substitute appearance against Dublin. Shane O'Donnell started against Armagh.
Table Fixtures Ulster Senior Football Championship The draw for the 2021 Ulster Championship was made on 28 November 2021. Shane O'Donnell started and scored a point against Armagh. He also started against Cavan and Derry.
Bracket Fixtures All-Ireland Senior Football Championship According to Armagh's coach
Kieran Donaghy, it was the decision of the players to push up against Donegal goalkeeper
Shaun Patton's kick-outs in the 2022 All-Ireland SFC qualifier win — a decision that brought them back into the game. Donaghy said: "The boys have to get all the credit really because it was going away from us. We got the electric start (with
Rory Grugan's goal after 10 seconds) then conceded six points in a row, but the lads wanted to push up on Patton's kick-out. We were in the stage of 'do we try to hold on until half-time then push on' but Rory Grugan said 'no, we're going to push up on it'. I think those two turnovers, we got the free then the black card and the penalty, they were a huge momentum lift. But I thought our half-back line was really good.
Greg (McCabe) and Jarly Og (Burns) got a few vital turnovers before half-time and put us going the other way."
Pauric McShea wrote, following the season-ending loss to Armagh: "If there was a technical report on Donegal 2022 it would possibly read 'Too cautious and not emerging from their passivity to have a crack'". McShea also wrote: "Dismay at Donegal's demise in the championship this year should be partially offset by the team's display in the first quarter of our game with Armagh last Sunday week. This was football of the highest order and real football people would understand that
Michael Murphy's presence was a major factor in this show of attacking excellence." ==Management team==