Derry county football team

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Derry

Sport:	Football
Irish:	Doire
Nickname(s):	The Oak Leafers
County board:	Derry GAA
Manager:	Rory Gallagher
Captain:	Chrissy McKaigue
Home venue(s):	Celtic Park, Derry Owenbeg, Dungiven
Recent competitive record
Current All-Ireland status:	Ulster (QF) in 2020
Last championship title:	1993
Current NFL Division:	3 (3rd in 2020)
Last league title:	2008
First colours Second colours

The Derry county football team represents Derry GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of football.^[1] The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Ulster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.

Derry's home ground is Celtic Park. The team's manager is Rory Gallagher.

The team last won the Ulster Senior Championship in 1998, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1993 and the National League in 2008.

The team is nicknamed the Oak Leafers.^[2][3][4]

History[]

In 1947, Derry won the National Football League. The group leaders were invited to play in the League semi-finals because heavy snow had disrupted the competition. Francie Niblock scored one of the finest goals in League history in Croke Park as Derry beat Clare. In 1958, the county won its first Ulster Senior Football Championship and secured a surprise victory in that year's All-Ireland semi-final, beating Kerry thanks to a Sean O'Connell goal three minutes from the end. In the final, Derry scored a goal ten minutes into the second half through Owen Gribben, but Dublin secured victory with goals scored by Paddy Farnan and Johnny Joyce.

In 1965, the Derry minor team won the All-Ireland Minor Championship, and three years later, at under-21 level, the bulk of that team captured the All-Ireland Under 21 Championship. Derry won the Ulster Senior Championship three times in the 1970s (1970, 1975 and 1976), but failed to advance past the All-Ireland semi-final stage on each occasion. In 1973, Anthony McGurk became the first player from Derry to receive an All Star Award.

The 1980s saw the county win two further All-Ireland Minor Championships (1983 and 1989) and their fifth Ulster Senior Championship (1987).

The 1990s proved to be the county's most successful decade. They won the county's second National League title in 1992, before winning the Ulster Championship and a first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1993. Derry won back-to-back National Leagues in 1995 and 1996, and the under-21 team won the 1997 All-Ireland Under-21 Championship. In 1998, Derry won another Ulster Senior Championship. In 2008, the Derry side of the 1990s was rated as one of the best of the previous twenty years and would have achieved more were it not for several unexpected defeats such as to Down in 1994, Tyrone in 1995 and Cavan in 1997.^[5]

Derry won the 2000 National League and the county's minor team won their fourth All-Ireland Minor Championship in 2002. Derry won the 2008 National League, their sixth in all. Since then they have been overshadowed in the Ulster Senior Championship by the emergence of Tyrone and Donegal. Derry topped Division 2 of the NFL in 2013 and returned to Division 1 for the 2014 season.

Manager Damian Barton was banned after involving himself in an on-field fight in 2016.^[6]

Derry were relegated to Division 4 in 2018.^[7]

Derry seriously debate whether to field a team in the Senior Football Championship as their presence in league and championship has been similar to that of Kilkenny, who concentrate on hurling instead.^[8]

Current squad[]

Team as per Derry vs Armagh in the Ulster SFC quarter-final, 1 November 2020^{[contradictory]}

No. Player Position Club 1 Odhran Lynch Goalkeeper Magherafelt 2 Paul McNeil Right Corner Back Slaughtneil 3 Brendan Rogers Full Back Slaughtneil 4 Conor McCluskey Left Corner Back Magherafelt 5 Ethan Doherty Right Half Back Glen 6 Chrissy McKaigue (c) Centre Back Slaughtneil 7 Padraig McGrogan Left Half Back Newbridge 8 Ciaran McFaul Midfield Glen 9 Conor Glass Midfield Glen 10 Danny Tallon Right Half Forward Glen 11 Enda Lynn Centre Forward Greenlough 12 Padraig Cassidy Left Half Forward Slaughtneil 13 Patrick Kearney Right Corner Forward Swatragh 14 Shane McGuigan Full Forward Slaughtneil 15 Niall Loughlin Left Corner Forward Greenlough

No. Player Position Club 16 Conlann Bradley Substitute Glen 17 Conor Doherty Substitute Newbridge 18 Carlus McWilliams Substitute Ballinascreen 19 Oisin McWilliams Substitute Swatragh 20 Michael McEvoy Substitute Magherafelt 21 Gavin O'Neill Substitute Banagher 22 Benny Heron Substitute Ballinascreen 23 Emmett Bradley Substitute Glen 24 Shea Downey Substitute Lavey 25 Niall Toner Substitute Lavey 26 Paul Cassidy Substitute Bellaghy

Managerial history[]

Dates	Name
????–1946	Unknown
1947	John L. Fay
1948–57	Unknown
1958–59	Roddy Gribbin
1960–67	Unknown
1968–71	Jim McKeever
1971–72	Paddy O'Hara
1972–74	Harry Cassidy
1975–79	Frank Kearney
1980–84	Mickey Moran
1985	Tom Scullion
1986–88	Tom Scullion, Jim McKeever & Phil Stuart
1989–90	Tommy Diamond
1990	Fr Seán Hegarty
1991–94	Eamonn Coleman
1995	Mickey Moran
1996–98	Brian Mullins
1999	Eamonn Coleman and
2000–02	Eamonn Coleman
2003–05	Mickey Moran
2006–08	Paddy Crozier
2009–2010	Damian Cassidy
2010–12	John Brennan
2013–15[9][10]
2016–17[11]	Damian Barton
2018–2019	Damian McErlain
2019–	Rory Gallagher

Players[]

Notable players[]

For details on former players, see List of Derry Gaelic footballers and Category:Derry Gaelic footballers.

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (January 2009)

Player	Debut	Last Game	Position	Club
Tommy Gribben	1945	1958	Midfield	Bellaghy
Jim McKeever	1948	1962	Midfield	Ballymaguigan
Sean O'Connell	1957	1977	Full forward	Ballerin
Larry Diamond	1963	1978	Midfield	Bellaghy
Eamonn Coleman	1968	1974	Forward	Ballymaguigan
Anthony McGurk	1970	1982	Back / forward	Lavey
Mickey Moran	1970	1982	Forward / back	Glen
Damian Cassidy	1983	1996	Left half forward	Bellaghy
Dermot McNicholl	1983	1996	Half forward	Glenullin
Tony Scullion	1983	1996	Full back	Ballinascreen
Enda Gormley	1985	2001	Left corner forward	Glen
Brian McGilligan	1986	1996	Midfield	Dungiven
Danny Quinn	1987	1996	Full back	Bellaghy
Henry Downey	1988	2001	Centre half back	Lavey
Kieran McKeever	1988	2002	Right corner back	Dungiven
Joe Brolly	1990	2000	Right corner forward	Dungiven
Anthony Tohill	1991	2003	Midfield	Swatragh
Seán Marty Lockhart	1995	2009	Corner back	Banagher
Enda Muldoon	1997	2011	Forward / midfield	Ballinderry
Paddy Bradley	1999	2012	Full forward	Glenullin
Fergal Doherty	2001	2015	Midfield	Bellaghy
Mark Lynch	2004	2018	Forward	Banagher

Footballer of the Year[]

Two Derry players have been awarded the Texaco Footballer of the Year award. Ballymaguigan's Jim McKeever won the inaugural award in 1958, while Henry Downey of the Lavey club received player of the year for his performances in helping Derry win the 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

All Stars[]

Since the 1960s there has been a tradition of annually selecting the best footballer in each position, to create a special team of the year. Between 1963 and 1967 these players received what was known as Cú Chulainn awards. In 1971 these awards were formalised into the annual All Stars Awards. Including Sean O'Connell's Cú Chulainn award in 1967, Derry have received 28 All Stars.

1967: Sean O'Connell^[A]
1973: Anthony McGurk
1975: Peter Stevenson, Anthony McGurk^2nd, Gerry McElhinney
1984: Dermot McNicholl
1987: Tony Scullion, Brian McGilligan
1992: Tony Scullion^2nd, Anthony Tohill, Enda Gormley
1993: Tony Scullion^3rd, Johnny McGurk, Henry Downey, Gary Coleman, Anthony Tohill^2nd, Brian McGilligan^2nd, Enda Gormley^2nd
1995: Tony Scullion^4th, Anthony Tohill^3rd
1996: Joe Brolly
1997: Joe Brolly^2nd
1998: Seán Marty Lockhart
2000: Kieran McKeever, Anthony Tohill^4th
2004: Enda Muldoon
2007: Kevin McCloy, Paddy Bradley^[12]

Player	1973	1975	1984	1987	1992	1993	1995	1996	1997	1998	2000	2004	2007
Anthony McGurk	Y	Y
Peter Stevenson		Y
Gerry McElhinney		Y
Dermot McNicholl			Y
Tony Scullion				Y	Y	Y	Y
Brian McGilligan				Y		Y
Anthony Tohill					Y	Y		Y			Y
Enda Gormley					Y	Y
Johnny McGurk						Y
Henry Downey						Y
Gary Coleman						Y
Joe Brolly								Y	Y
Sean Martin Lockhart										Y
Kieran McKeever											Y
Enda Muldoon												Y
Kevin McCloy													Y
Paddy Bradley													Y

GPA Gaelic Football Team of the Year[]

Since 2006 the Gaelic Players Association have chosen their own team of the year. 2007: Paddy Bradley

International rules representatives[]

A number of Derry players have been selected to play International rules football for the Ireland team against Australia; both in the test games (1984, 1986, 1987 and 1990) and since the commencement of the International Rules Series in 1998. Note the table is incomplete.

Player	Appearances	Years
Seán Marty Lockhart	16	1998 (2), 1999 (2), 2000 (2), 2001 (2), 2003 (2), 2004 (2), 2005 (2), 2006 (2)
Anthony Tohill	8	1998 (2), 1999 (2), 2000 (2), 2001 (2)
Paddy Bradley	2	2008 (2)
Dermot McNicholl	9	1984 (3), 1986 (3), 1987 (3)
Brian McGilligan	6	1986 (3) 1987 (3)
Tony Scullion	4	1987 (1) 1990 (3)

Player statistics[]

Championship[]

Championship top scorers[]

• End of 2019 Championship
• 100+ Points Total

Player	Debut	Opposition	Appearances	Goals	Points	Final Game	Opposition	Total Score
Paddy Bradley	14/05/2000	Cavan	51	17	202	30/06/2012	Longford	253
Sean O'Connell	09/06/1957	Antrim	38	12	120	25/06/1976	Cavan	156
Anthony Tohill	30/06/1991	Down	52	4	128	28/06/2003	Dublin	140
Enda Gormley	01/06/1986	Tyrone	34	2	118	02/07/2000	Antrim	124
Mark Lynch	24/07/2004	Limerick	54	6	101	09/06/2018	Kildare	119
Enda Muldoon	01/06/1997	Monaghan	54	11	84	23/07/2011	Kildare	117

Championship appearances[]

• End of 2019 Championship
• 50+ Appearances

Player	Debut	Opposition	Appearances	Final Game	Opposition
Enda Muldoon	01/06/1997	Monaghan	54	23/07/2011	Kildare
Mark Lynch	24/07/2004	Limerick	54	09/06/2018	Kildare
Anthony Tohill	30/06/1991	Down	52	28/06/2003	Dublin
Paddy Bradley	14/05/2000	Cavan	51	30/06/2012	Longford
Seán Marty Lockhart	02/06/1996	Armagh	50	18/07/2009	Donegal

Championship single score[]

• End of 2019 Championship
• 10+ Points Total

Player	Date	Opposition	Goals	POints	Total
Paddy Bradley	05/06/2005	Monaghan	1	10	13
Paddy Bradley	15/07/2006	Longford	2	7	13
Brendan Kelly	19/06/1977	Tyrone	2	5	11
Paddy Bradley	12/06/2004	Wicklow	1	8	11
Micky Niblock	25/07/1971	Down	2	4	10

Championship season score[]

• End of 2019 Championship
• 30+ Points Total

Player	First Game	Opposition	Appearances	Goals	Points	Final Game	Opposition	Total Score
Paddy Bradley	09/05/2004	Tyrone	7	2	38	29/08/2004	Kerry	44
Paddy Bradley	05/06/2005	Monaghan	5	2	29	06/08/2005	Laois	35
Enda Muldoon	19/05/2004	Tyrone	7	3	24	29/08/2004	Kerry	33

National League[]

NFL top scorers[]

• End of 2019 National League
• 100+ Points Total

Player	Debut	Opposition	Appearances	Goals	Points	Final Game	Opposition	Total Score
Paddy Bradley	31/10/1999	Mayo	85	14	324	08/04/12	Westmeath	366
Sean O'Connell	15/09/1957	Antrim	84	25	242	02/05/1976	Dublin	317
Anthony Tohill	27/10/1991	Meath	72	14	155	31/03/2002	Down	197
Enda Gormley	13/10/1985	Antrim	62	7	164	15/04/201	Fermanagh	185
Joe Brolly	07/10/1990	Cavan	63	12	138	11/04/1999	Cork	174
Mark Lynch	06/02/2005	Meath	80	8	145	25/03/2018	Sligo	169
James Kielt	01/02/2009	Mayo	54	5	125	25/03/2018	Sligo	140
Conleith Gilligan	20/05/2000	Meath	54	6	106	25/03/2012	Louth	124
Eoin Bradley	02/06/2005	Meath	56	4	106	03/04/2016	Armagh	118
Brendan Kelly	20/10/1674	Tyrone	37	5	89	02/05/1976	Dublin	104
JE Mullan	17/03/1940	Sligo	39	18	46	13/05/1955	Armagh	100

NFL appearances[]

• End of 2019 NFL
• 80+ Appearances

Player	Debut	Opposition	Appearances	Final Game	Opposition
Tony Scullion	13/02/1983	Armagh	95	05/05/1996	Donegal
Kieran McKeever	31/01/1988	Monaghan	89	08/04/2001	Cavan
Paddy Bradley	31/10/1999	Mayo	85	08/04/2012	Westmeath
Sean O'Connell	15/09/1957	Mayo	84	02/05/1976	Dublin
Mark Lynch	06/02/2005	Meath	80	25/03/2018	Sligo

NFL single score[]

• End of 2019 League
• 10+ Points Total

Player	Date	Opposition	Goals	Points	Total
Paddy Bradley	07/03/2004	Waterford	3	9	18
Paddy Bradley	03/04/2005	Tipperary	1	13	16
Matt Regan	29/10/1939	Tyrone	5	0	15
Sean O'Connell	12/03/1967	Armagh	4	3	15
JE Mullan	16/09/1951	Fermanagh	2	5	11
Paddy Bradley	23/02/2003	Monaghan	3	2	11
Mark Lynch	16/03/2014	Dublin	1	8	11
Emmett Bradley	18/02/2018	Offaly	1	8	11
Shane McGuigan	16/03/2019	Leitrim	2	5	11
Sean O'Connell	05/02/1967	Down	3	1	10
Shane McGuigan	23/02/2020	Louth	1	7	10

NFL season score[]

• End of 2019 National League
• 50+ Points Total

Player	First Game	Opposition	Appearances	Goals	Points	Final Game	Opposition	Total Score
Paddy Bradley	06/02/2005	Meath	8	2	44	24/04/2005	Monaghan	50
Mark Lynch	01/02/2014	Tyrone	8	2	44	27/04/2014	Dublin	50

Current management team[]

• Manager: Damian Barton
• Selectors:

Honours[]

For more details on this topic including team line-ups, see here

Senior[]

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: 1

1993

• National Football League Championship: 6

1947, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2008

• Ulster Senior Football Championship: 7

1958, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1987, 1993, 1998

• Dr McKenna Cup: 11

1947, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1993, 1999, 2011^[13]

• Dr Lagan Cup: 5

1945, 1947, 1950, 1953, 1959,

• Ulster Junior Football Championship: 7

1945, 1950, 1953, 1955, 1964, 1967, 1969

Under-21[]

• All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship: 2

1968, 1997

• Ulster Under-21 Football Championship: 7

1967, 1968, 1976, 1983, 1986, 1993, 1997

Minor[]

• All-Ireland Minor Football Championship: 5

1965, 1983, 1989, 2002, 2020

• Ulster Minor Football Championship: 15

1965, 1969, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2015, 2017,^[14] 2020

School[]

• All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship: 3

1979, 1980, 1981

• Ulster Vocational Schools Championship: ?

?

References[]