Donegal lost the 1933 "Home final" of the 1933 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship to Mayo (2–15 to 2–2), and the team then made its next appearance at Croke Park on Sunday 6 April 1952.

Unfortunately, they came into contact with a majestic Down machine that was also blistering the national stage with their prowess, becoming the first team from the North to win All-Ireland SFC titles in 1960, 1961 and 1968.

[23][24] McEniff returned as senior manager, and Donegal won a third provincial title in 1983, with ten members of the 1982 under-21 team included in the panel.

Over the course of his time as senior manager during the 1980s, Conaghan fell out with players such as Declan Bonner, Manus Boyle, Matt Gallagher, Barry McGowan and Sylvester Maguire.

[25] He led the county to another Ulster SFC title in 1990, restoring players who had gone by the wayside, such as Bonner, Boyle, Gallagher, McGowan and Maguire.

Donegal overcame the men from Mayo to set up a 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final meeting with raging-hot favourites Dublin.

Donegal's greatest footballing accomplishment yet was realised on 20 September 1992 when the senior team defeated the highly fancied Dublin, by a scoreline of 0–18 to 0–14, to take the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time.

Man of the Match Manus Boyle scored 0–9 (four from play), while Gary Walsh pulled off a great save from Vinny Murphy at the end.

[33][34][35] He was informed of the decision to appoint him at 9.29 pm on 11 August 1997, after Anthony Molloy, past manager Conaghan and Pauric McShea all withdrew.

[36] Bonner led Donegal to the 1997–98 National Football League semi-final against eventual title winners Offaly and the 1998 Ulster SFC final against Derry — a last-minute Joe Brolly goal, accompanied by a few kisses to the crowd, put paid to that one.

[37] Moran's first game in charge was a league victory at home to Offaly, a win achieved while fielding four debutants (Stephen Cassidy, Michael Doherty, Barry Monaghan and ... one other?).

En route to the final, Donegal defeated Cork, Mayo, Tyrone, Dublin, Kerry, Fermanagh and Kildare, while drawing with Limerick.

In 2008, at a county board meeting, a motion of no confidence was tabled by the St Eunan's and Gaoth Dobhair clubs; as a result McIver felt compelled to resign.

Bonner and Mulgrew had contested that the procedure which led to the installing of John Joe Doherty as football manager in the county was flawed.

His second season brought a second consecutive provincial title, also achieved from the preliminary round, as well as a defeat of Kerry at Croke Park and a win over Cork on 26 August to secure a place in the 2012 All Ireland Football Final.

In 2010, after a disappointing championship, in which Donegal lost at home to Down after extra-time, and to Armagh in Crossmaglen by nine points in the first round of the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers, John Joe Doherty resigned from his post as senior football manager.

McGuinness's first major success as senior manager was to win the National Football League Division 2, when Donegal defeated Laois by a scoreline of 2–11 to 0–16 at Croke Park.

This was only the third time in the history of the Ulster SFC that a team which played in the preliminary round would win the final, following in the footsteps of Armagh in 2005 and Cavan 66 years earlier.

In an absorbing contest, a Kevin Cassidy point deep into extra-time sealed Donegal's progression to a first All-Ireland SFC semi-final since 2003.

[62] Donegal then emerged victorious from the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final on 23 September 2012, to take the Sam Maguire Cup for a second time, with early goals from Michael Murphy and Colm McFadden ensuring that Mayo were never really in the contest.

McGuinness won 83.33 per cent of his SFC matches during his first spell as Donegal manager (20 wins from 24 games); this included defeats, over a four-year period, of Armagh, Cavan, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Down, Kildare, Kerry, Mayo, Monaghan and Tyrone.

[68] McGuinness's former assistant Rory Gallagher took over for the 2015 campaign, and the year began brightly with Donegal reaching the National League semi-final, losing out to Cork.

The team's 2016 Ulster SFC began with a tricky encounter against Fermanagh at MacCumhaill Park, which Donegal eventually won by four points after going down to 14 men.

After two intense games of football, Donegal won out to advance to a sixth successive Ulster SFC final, a feat only matched by the great Down side of the 1960s.

However, the team continued its recent good form in the qualifiers with a three-point victory over Cork, with Patrick McBrearty achieving an individual haul of 0–11.

[78] Senior players Jason McGee and Niall O'Donnell were not part of this one, as they decided to drop down to play with the under-20 team instead, between league and championship.

[83] On 20 August, Donegal GAA brought forward its monthly county board meeting to the following evening, where the only thng on the agenda was about appointing the new manager.

[84] Finally, on the evening of Monday the 21st of August, the return of McGuinness was confirmed in sensational fashion at that meeting, year one of three (with an option of a fourth) beginning pronto.

The chairperson is Father Brian Quinn, the secretary is Catriona McCaffrey and the joint treasurers are Grace Boyle and Brendan Brady.

With an unexpected victory coming against the favorite Connacht side, Donegal decided to retain this colour combination for the final against Dublin.