THE DONEGAL COUNTY final has been fixed for the final weekend of September, just five weeks before Declan Bonner’s side meet Tyrone in the Ulster senior championship quarter-final.

In what promises to be a hectic couple of months, a new format has been arranged for the Donegal Championships this year – with Senior, Intermediate and Junior finals scheduled for the week ending 26 and 27 September.

The Donegal Championship will see all 16 teams enter into a single “league”. The top eight teams in the league – after four rounds of games – qualify for the quarter-finals and the bottom four go into relegation play-offs.

Each team will have two home and two away “league” games during August. There will be a draw in early July which will determine the first two sets of “league” fixtures. The first eight teams drawn at home on the weekend of 31 July to 3 August will go into Pool A.

The remaining eight teams in Pool B will play at home the following weekend. All knock-out games will be played to a finish on the day. The draw of the third round of games will take place on 9 August after all second round games are completed. Similarly, the draw for Round 4 will take place on 16 August.

The draw for the quarter-finals will see the top four teams in the league play at home.

Following the completion of club activity, the Donegal footballers play Tyrone in round 6 of the National League on the week ending 17/18 October, before travelling to Kerry seven days later. The weekend after that is Championship time, when Donegal meet Tyrone on either 31 October or 1 November.

Donegal club football returns on Saturday 17 July with the first round games of the new regional leagues.