Damian Diver (born 1973/4) is an Irish former

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played for Ard an Rátha and the Donegal county team. He played at half-back for his county. He made 120 appearances, 36 of which were championship, for the team between 1995 and 2006. He was noted for owning his own gym equipment in a time before this was commonplace.

Playing career

Club and college

Diver twice won the

Donegal Senior Football Championship The Donegal Senior Football Championship (abbreviated as Donegal SFC) is an annual football competition organised by Donegal GAA and contested by the highest-level clubs, to determine the best team in County Donegal. Since 2016, it has been known ...

with his club. He took a free that led to the goal scored during the 2004 final. He was also

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of DIT during their 1995 cup-winning season, but missed the final with

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

.Damian Diver was Captain of DIT, but missed final because of influenza; http://www.ditgaa.ie/alumni.html (last viewed 11 June 2020).

Inter-county

Diver first featured on the county panel in 1994. P. J. McGowan was the manager to introduce Diver to the Donegal senior team. He made his debut in an away game to Meath in

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland by population, tenth largest settlement in ...

in the 1994–95 National Football League, during which he marked

Colm Coyle Colm Coyle (born 26 February 1963), is a former Gaelic footballer and former manager from County Meath, Ireland. He was manager of the senior Meath county team from September 2006 to July 2008, having previously played for the county. Playin ...

and Trevor Giles. Based in Dublin as a student with DIT while training to become a

quantity surveyor A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in the UK and Ce ...

at the time, Diver did not expect to play and was thus not monitoring his diet. He travelled west from Dublin to meet the team. Diver said later: "I was stuffing myself with grub. I'll never forget it, P. J. McGowan came up to me after and says 'you're starting wing-back today'. Well holy Christ, the colour must've gone out of my face". Diver made his senior championship debut for Donegal against Down in 1996. He played in the 1998

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 ...

final. He started

Mickey Moran Mickey Moran is a former Gaelic footballer and manager-coach, who has been manager of Kilcoo since 2019, with a background as an inter-county manager who most recently managed the Leitrim county team. He played at senior level for the Der ...

's first game in charge of Donegal, a league win at home to

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

in October 2000. Diver made an appearance as a first-half substitute against

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 ...

in the 2002 Ulster SFC final. He then played against

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in the 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (in which Donegal earned a replay), but Diver returned home on the bus with only three teammates. He started the first game of

Brian McEniff Brian McEniff (born 1 December 1942) is a former Gaelic football manager, administrator and player. McEniff played as a wing-back for the St Joseph's combination of clubs from Bundoran and Ballyshannon. He won seven Donegal Senior Football C ...

's last spell as Donegal manager, a league defeat to

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 ...

Tuam Tuam ( ; ga, Tuaim , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. Humans have lived in the area since the Bron ...

in February 2003. He played in an All-Ireland SFC semi-final later that year. He played in the 2004 Ulster SFC final, after Donegal defeated All-Ireland champions Tyrone in the semi-final. He also made a substitute appearance in the 2006 Ulster SFC final against Armagh in

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

, in what proved to be his last game as a county player. According to

Declan Bonner Declan Bonner (born 11 August 1965) is an Irish Gaelic footballer and manager. He played at senior level for the Donegal county team, winning an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1992. He later managed the Donegal county team for tw ...

, Diver famously never won anything with Donegal (i.e. seniors). He announced his retirement from inter-county football in November 2006. Donegal won 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 ...

less than six months later. Never an All Star, Diver was, however, selected as a replacement All Star (2003 vintage) ahead of an exhibition game in 2005 due to Tom Kelly breaking his

collarbone The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the right ...

Coaching career

Upon being appointed Donegal manager in 2010,

Jim McGuinness Jim McGuinness (born 16 November 1972) is an association football coach and former Gaelic footballer, coach and manager, who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as both player and manager with the Donegal county team. Having gu ...

appointed Diver as a defensive and strength and conditioning coach. However, Diver was unable to commit and missed out on winning Ulster SFC titles in

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and

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, as well as the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. In September 2013, McGuinness parted ways with his backroom team. Diver said he would not take a position. However, shortly afterwards, McGuinness announced him as part of his new backroom team. Diver was a

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when Donegal reached the

2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2014 All-Ireland Football Final, the culmination of the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 21 September 2014. Ulster champions Donegal, last champions in 2012 took on Munster champions Kerr ...

. When McGuinness departed after this game, Diver was linked with the managerial vacancy. In 2017, Diver was coaching under-10s with his club.

Honours

County

runner-up: 1998, 2002 2004, 2006 *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

runner-up:

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(selector)

Club

: 2000?, 2004?

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diver, Damian 1970s births Living people Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology Ard an Rátha Gaelic footballers Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs Gaelic football selectors Quantity surveyors