The Antrim county football team represents

Antrim GAA Antrim may refer to: Boats * Antrim 20, an American sailboat design People * Donald Antrim (born 1958), American writer * "Henry Antrim", an alias used by Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid, a 19th-century outlaw * Harry Antrim (188 ...

, the

county board A county board is a common form of county legislature, particular of counties in the United States. Related forms of county government include: * Board of Supervisors — a form of county legislature in some U.S. states * County commission, ...

of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

, in the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

sport of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

and the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. Antrim's home ground is Casement Park,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. The team's manager is

Andy McEntee Andy McEntee is a Gaelic football manager. He has been the manager of the Antrim county team since 2022. He managed his native Meath between 2016 and 2022. Career McEntee managed Meath to the final of the 2012 All-Ireland Minor Football Champ ...

. The team last won the Ulster Senior Championship in 1951, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.

History

The county team has won the

(SFC) on ten occasions: 1900, 1901, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1946 and 1951. The county team was the first in the province of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

to appear in an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) final, doing so in

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

and repeating the feat again in

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

, but losing on both occasions. Antrim's 1911 All-Ireland SFC semi-final win was not anticipated. The Ulster secretary got sick that year and did not organise a provincial championship. So Antrim arrived to play

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

without having practiced and won by a scoreline of 3–1 to 1–1. The following year Antrim defeated

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

. Heavy rain on the day, and over-indulgence at a wedding the day before were blamed for the unexpected 3–5 to 0–2 defeat. Antrim's County Board decision to introduce a City League in 1908, one of the first in Gaelic history, was a more legitimate explanation. The 1946 Antrim football team was regarded as one of the most exciting of the era, taking advantage of the newly reintroduced handpass. Joe McCallin's two goals contributed to Antrim's defeat of

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

in the Ulster SFC final. However, Kerry roughed them out of the All-Ireland SFC semi-final. The opening of Casement Park boosted the sport in

, but — from the late 1960s — the troubles restricted sporting life in the football heartlands of

, particularly in Ardoyne. Political violence meant that the county could not build on the under-21 team of 1969, one of the finest in Ulster history (Din Joe McGrogan — scorer of the goals that put Antrim in the final — was killed by a loyalist bomb). The county's Vocational Schools team has made it to two All-Ireland finals: in 1968, when the team defeated

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, and in 1971, when

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

won. Congregation of Christian Brothers member Laurence (Larry) Ennis (1933-2021) served as Antrim manager from 1979 until 1981, leading the team to a Dr McKenna Cup title, defeating Tyrone,

Down Down most often refers to: * Down, the relative direction opposed to up * Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place * Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing * Downland, a ty ...

and

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

along the way. A drawn Ulster SFC semi-final with

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

in 2000 was one of the highlights of Antrim's football at inter-county level, alongside winning the

2008 Tommy Murphy Cup The fifth Tommy Murphy Cup Gaelic football competition commenced on July 12, 2008. The competition was in knockout format: the nine teams who play in the National Football League 2009 Division 4 competed. Antrim beat holders Wicklow in the fina ...

, defeating

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has ...

in the final, a reverse of the previous year's final result against the same opponent. Antrim reached the 2009 Ulster SFC final, the first Antrim team to do so for 31 years. Antrim lost that game to 2008 All-Ireland SFC winner Tyrone.

Jody Gormley Jody Gormley is a former Gaelic footballer who played for the Tyrone and London county teams. He also played a coaching role for Down following his retirement from inter-county play, and has held the role of Antrim football manager. Gormley ...

was named Antrim manager ahead of the 2007 All-Ireland SFC, a role he held for two seasons. Lenny Harbinson managed the team from 2017 until 2020. He was unable to gain promotion from Division 4 of the

and the county exited the Ulster SFC in its first game in each of his three years, though defeated

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town *Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * County ...

in an away 2019 All-Ireland SFC qualifier. In November 2020,

Enda McGinley Enda McGinley (born 1981) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player for the Errigal Ciarán club and the Tyrone county team. He managed the Antrim county team between 2020 and 2022. McGinley was part of Tyrone's All-Ireland-winnin ...

was appointed manager. McGinley brought his former Tyrone teammate

Stephen O'Neill Stephen O'Neill (born 19 November 1980) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer from Strabane, Northern Ireland, who played at senior level for the Tyrone county team. He won three All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals, two All-Ireland ...

in as part of his backroom team and Brendan Murphy was appointed as

strength and conditioning coach A strength and conditioning coach (also known as an S&C coach) is a physical performance professional who uses exercise prescription to improve the performance of competitive athletes or athletic teams. This is achieved through the combination of ...

. McGinley and his backroom team left at the end of May 2022. Less than two months later,

was unexpectedly appointed as McGinley's successor as manager on a three-year term.

Managerial history

Players

All Stars

Antrim has one All Star. 1971:

Andy McCallin Andy McCallin was a dual player of Gaelic games (hurling and Gaelic football, football) who played for the Antrim GAA, Antrim and Limerick GAA, Limerick county teams. Early career Belfast-born, McCallin is the only Antrim county football team ...

Team sponsorship

Antrim unveiled a sponsorship agreement with Fibrus in December 2022, projected to last five years.

Honours

:''Official honours, with additions noted.''

National

*All-Ireland Senior B Football Championship ** Winners (1): 1999 *

Tommy Murphy Cup The Tommy Murphy Cup was a Gaelic football competition, featuring senior county teams eliminated from the early stages of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and also Kilkenny when not fielding a team in the main All-Ireland. The series ...

** Winners (1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

** Runners-up (1):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

* All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship ** Winners (1): 1969 * All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship ** Winners (1): 1968

Provincial

** Winners (10): 1900, 1901, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1946, 1951 ** Runners-up (9): 1903, 1906, 1918, 1919, 1925, 1926, 1947, 1948,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

* Dr McKenna Cup ** Winners (6): 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1966, 1981 *

Dr Lagan Cup The Dr Lagan Cup was an inter-county Gaelic football competition in the province of Ulster. The competition was discontinued in 1967 when Donegal won the competition. The Lagan Cup was the trophy for a Senior Football League, which at the time wa ...

** Winners (3): 1944, 1946, 1948

References

{{GAA National Leagues County football teams