Donal Monaghan

{{Short description|Irish Gaelic footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox GAA player | code= Football | sport = Gaelic football | image = | name = Donal Monaghan | irish = Dónall Ó Muineacháin | feet = | inches = | occupation = Businessman | county = Donegal | province = Ulster | club = [[Four Masters GAA|Four Masters]] | clposition = | clubs = | clyears = 1965–1984 | clapps(points) = | clcounty = 1 | clprovince= | clallireland = | counties = [[Donegal county football team|Donegal]] | icposition = Right corner-back | icyears = 1968–1978 | icapps(points) = | icprovince = 2 | icallireland = 0 | nfl = 0 | allstars = 1 | clupdate = | icupdate = | birth_date=1950 | birth_place=[[County Donegal]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] }} {{Use Irish English|date=April 2021}} '''Donal Monaghan''' (1950 – 3 January 2016) was an Irish [[Gaelic football]]er who played as a right corner-back for the [[Donegal county football team|Donegal county team]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fourmastersgaa.com/donal-monaghan/|title=Donal Monaghan|publisher=Four Masters GAA website|date=|accessdate=6 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203213719/http://www.fourmastersgaa.com/donal-monaghan/|archive-date=3 February 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Born in [[County Donegal]], Monaghan first played competitive Gaelic football at the age of fifteen when he first linked up with the Donegal minor team, before later lining out with the under-21 side. He made his senior debut in the [[National Football League (Ireland)|1968-69 National Football League]]. Monaghan went on to play a key part for Donegal in a team that made a provincial breakthrough, and won two [[Ulster Senior Football Championship|Ulster]] medals and one [[List of All Stars Awards winners (football)|All Stars Award]]. His uncle, [[Johnny Monaghan]], played Gaelic football with [[Fermanagh GAA|Fermanagh]] in the 1930s.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

Monaghan represented the [[Ulster GAA|Ulster]] inter-provincial team on a number of occasions and was a [[Railway Cup]] runner-up in 1975. At club level he won one [[Donegal Senior Football Championship|championship]] medal with [[Four Masters GAA|Four Masters]].{{fact|date=April 2021}}

Monaghan retired from inter-county football after the [[1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship|1978 championship]], while a knee ligament injury brought his club football career to an end in 1984.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

He assisted [[Tom Conaghan]] with the team that won the [[1982 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Peter|last=Campbell|url=https://www.donegallive.ie/news/sporting-moments/294586/1982-donegal-win-first-ever-all-ireland-title-at-u-21-level.html|title=1982: Donegal win first ever All-Ireland title at U-21 level|date=31 January 2018|accessdate=31 January 2018|quote=Manager Tom Conaghan was assisted by Michael Lafferty, Donal Monaghan and John Cassidy.}}</ref>

Donegal's second All Star winner, his son [[Barry Monaghan|Barry]] also played for Donegal, 117 games in total at senior level.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Alan|last1=Foley|first2=Peter|last2=Campbell|url=https://www.donegallive.ie/news/sport/653345/when-donegal-minors-lit-up-the-summer-of-1996-their-story-and-where-are-they-now.html|title=When Donegal minors lit up the summer of 1996. Their story and 'where are they now?'|date=30 July 2021|access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monaghan, Donal}} [[Category:1950 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:Four Masters Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:Ulster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:20th-century Irish sportsmen]]