Brendan Devenney

In the final of the 1999 Donegal Senior Football Championship, Devenney broke Martin McHugh's record by scoring 0–14 of his team's 1–19 to their opponents Aodh Ruadh's 1–11.[5] Devenney punctured a lung while playing for his club against Clonoe of Tyrone in the Ulster Championship in 2008. He ignored his injury, sustained in the first half, and carried on until the end of the game—scoring four points and contributing to the decisive goal which won the game for his team—after which he was hospitalised.[6] He also captained his club.[7]

Declan Bonner gave Devenney his Championship debut in 1998.[2] His debut against Cork in the National Football League quarter-final at Croke Park in March 1998 was nothing short of sensational: he scored 2–2.[8]

He had a decent game against Armagh in the 2004 Ulster final at Croke Park.[9]

Devenney played Championship football until 2005. He came back in 2007.[2] During this time he played soccer with Portadown.[10]

He often played alongside Adrian Sweeney for Donegal,[2] and played a vital part in Donegal's winning of their first National League title in 2007, passing a late fitness test to play in the final against Mayo.[11]

Devenney was held largely responsible for Donegal winning their 2007 Ulster Championship first round match against Armagh on Sunday 27 May 2007. He scored the vital last-minute goal that saw off the Orchard County by a single point, 1-09 to 1–08, at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey.[12] However, he never won the Ulster Senior Football Championship during his career.[2] Devenney confirmed his retirement from the top level of Gaelic football on 29 December 2009.

Since his departure Donegal have won an All Ireland Senior Football title in 2012. Devenney says,

I try not to look back. I try to blank it [the past] out. Because there are too many regrets. It hurts too much. There were good days and good bits, for sure, but the big things like an Ulster and All-Ireland that you were looking for, you never got to and that's why I'm afraid to look back. As I've grown older I'd be wild angry about it. We'd be knocked out of Ulster for playing conventional football, then out of Ulster we could play conventional football as good as anyone. We'd be in the qualifiers and tear through the Longfords and Tipperarys, beat the likes of Meath and Galway. They were the games that sustained you, that's why we played football. But see going up to Clones? I’d be dreading going in the door. There were times I'd be thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ That was my mindset before a championship match. I didn't want to be there. How the hell was I going to perform? Looking back on it, there was no way it could go right. Because Armagh and Tyrone had us figured out. They’d lock down space. You look at Bernard and Alan Brogan against Dublin in that [All-Ireland] semi-final a couple of years ago. They looked like they wanted to walk off the pitch. Donegal messed with their heads. Bernard was in there on his own. He couldn't make a channel run. When he did get it, right away he was running into three boys. That was me for years.[13]

Devenney represented Ireland with distinction against Australia, and was his country's leading scorer in the 2001 International Rules Series as Ireland romped to victory in Australia.[14]

On 10 February 2020, a weekly programme called DL Debate began airing on Highland Radio. It originated in discussion between Devenney and Oisín Kelly between games on a Sunday, with Devenney concluding that a Monday evening programme to discuss the weekend's fixtures was necessary.[18] Devenney's guests on the first episode included John Haran, Colm Parkinson (Laois) and Ciarán Whelan (Dublin).[19] Others in later episodes included Neil Gallagher, John Gildea, Enda McGinley (Tyrone) and Rory Kavanagh.[20][21][22][23][24][25]