A blistering start paved the way for Donegal to claim their third successive TG4 Ulster senior title in front of 2,049 spectators in Clones today.

Just five years ago, Donegal goalkeeper Shaun Patton was playing in a MacLarnon Cup final in goal for St Eunan’s Letterkenny.

Behold the empire of Donegal — destroyer of dreams, kings in the north.

Donegal have progressed to the Super 8s largely unscathed, but also largely untested.

Michael Murphy says the pain Donegal have endured in Ulster mean his fifth Ulster title in eight years is just as special as his first.

Don't be fooled by the scoreline.

Around 45 minutes from throw-in time, with the sense of anticipation building in Kingspan Breffni Park ahead of Donegal’s semi-final win over Tyrone, a familiar figure was calmly stepping out distances between the cones he was setting down and the poles he was plopping in.

Liam McDonald fired a hat-trick of goals as Monaghan overcame Donegal in the Ulster MFC semi-final at Brewster Park in Enniskillen last night.

Ryan McHugh doesn’t remember much about his father Martin leading Cavan to an Ulster title, but he says his family will always have a special bond with the county.

Michael Murphy will lead Donegal into an Ulster senior football championship final for the eighth time on Sunday hoping to get his hands on the Anglo-Celt Cup for the fifth time.

With Donegal running one of the smallest football panels in the country and one of the largest backroom teams, it’s not stretching things much to suggest there are now more people operating outside the whitewash than inside.

Donegal swept past Tyrone to book their place in the Ulster SFC final, scoring a first win over fierce north-west rivals Tyrone in four Championship clashes as they triumphed by four points at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Donegal All-Star Ryan McHugh has admitted that last year’s championship campaign turned decisively against them once Paddy McBrearty suffered a season-ending injury.

The Donegal Hearings Committee have ruled that Naomh Colmcille lose their ‘home venue for all adult games’ for 12 weeks has been imposed for hosting ‘an unauthorized competition’ as part of a fundraising drive for a member with Motor Neurone Disease.

Naomh Colmcille will go before the Donegal Hearings Committee tonight for having a fundraising soccer competition on their grounds for a club member who has been diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease.

Paul Dillon, the man diagnosed with motor neuron disease, for whom Donegal club Naomh Colmcille held a fund-raising tournament, has called the disciplinary action against the club a “disgrace and a shock”.

Naomh Colmcille GAA Club will appeal an eight-week suspension handed down to them from the Donegal Competition Controls Committee (CCC) for hosting an ‘unauthorised tournament’ for a former player and coach suffering from Motor Neurone Disease.

Donegal 1-9 Armagh 0-11

Declan Bonner, the Donegal manager, commended the resolve shown by his young side as they came from four points down late on to overcame Meath in a frost-bitten Ballybofey on Saturday night.

Dr McKenna Cup semi-final Armagh 0-14 Donegal 1-10

Gaelic football is receiving unwarranted bad press and the experimental handpass rule is unnecessary, says Donegal defender Eoghan Bán Gallagher.

Donegal 1-17 Down 0-10

Donegal will not rush some of their more experienced campaigners back into action just yet as they bid to defend the Dr McKenna Cup that set them on their way to an Ulster title last year.

Stephen Rochford admits it’s been an easy decision to get back involved in the inter-county set-up — saying the chance to join up with Donegal “was too good to turn down”.

Donegal have confirmed that former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford is joining Declan Bonner's backroom staff.

Former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford is expected to join Donegal as Declan Bonner’s new coach and selector.

There were ugly scenes at an under 14's GAA match in Donegal last weekend.

It’s the question that the managers of their closest rivals will be asking themselves in the coming months as they hope to be the team to deny Dublin the five-in-a-row in 2019.

Former Donegal boss Jim McGuinness has urged Dublin to “do the right thing” and to insist on playing just one of their upcoming Super 8 games at Croke Park.

Paddy McBrearty couldn’t wait to get close enough to scream into Eoghan ‘Bán’ Gallagher’s ear after Sunday’s Ulster final defeat of Fermanagh in Clones.

Alan Hansen doesn’t do live TV anymore. After 22 years, he finished up as BBC’s Match of the Day anchor pundit in 2014. Commanding he was, but not without sin, Manchester United coming back to haunt him following his infamous “kids” remark in 1995.

Although some of the fizz has been taken out of the provincial championships since the introduction of the qualifiers back in 2001, there’s a semblance of a climactic feel to Donegal’s preliminary round opener against Cavan in Ballybofey tomorrow.

Abandon hope all ye who enter here. This is the football championship. Thirty-two counties chase a ball around for four months and at the end, the Dubs always win.

Mark McHugh insists Donegal’s stable of veteran stars won’t make any snap retirement decisions.

There were no grand gestures afterwards. No declarations or intimations of veterans angling towards the exit or talk of how a great team had perhaps reached the end of a long and memorable road walked together.

Ryan McHugh believes Donegal will need to give “the ultimate performance” to beat Mayo in Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final.

Donegal boss Rory Gallagher admits he is “a lot more optimistic” on the injury front, as his side prepare to face Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-final on Saturday.

On A lonely bench at Belgrave Park in Rathmines he sat one night. All night long.

Caitríona McBride went to school with Eamon McGee, where she had to defend her pencil case from the future Donegal defender. They met recently to bring his story up to date.

Karl Lacey has been ruled out of Donegal’s All-Ireland qualifier with Galway on Saturday due to a knee injury. 

Donegal chairman Sean Dunnion has expressed disappointment at the GAA’s decision to stage the county’s fourth round qualifier in Croke Park.

Behind Stephen Cluxton, they are the best in the business. Just how vital will Rory Beggan and Paul Durcan be in tomorrow’s Ulster final?

It’s been said that since Rory Gallagher took over the mantle of Donegal manager from Jim McGuinness, the prototype remains the same, with minor modifications.

Michael Murphy mightn’t have been happy with the performance but he was at least content in the knowledge last Saturday has dispelled some of the perceptions that Donegal were going to stroll to another Ulster championship.