James McCartan (1938 – 14 August 2021) was an Irish

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 his local Tullylish club and at senior level for the Down county team from the 1950s until the 1960s. McCartan played primarily as a forward, and was a major figure in Down's All-Ireland SFC victories of

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

and

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

. He also won Ulster SFC medals and two

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

medals, in 1960 and 1962, while playing for his county team. He was

Texaco Footballer of the Year The Texaco Footballer of the Year was a Gaelic football award, created in 1958, that honoured the achievements of a footballer of outstanding excellence. The award was part of the Texaco Sportstars Awards, in which Irish sportspeople from all f ...

for two consecutive years, in 1960 and 1961. He won

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

medals while representing

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 ...

. Once his playing days came to an end he served as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of Down during the 1980s when the team won the 1982–83 National Football League. His son, also called

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, won All-Ireland SFC medals while playing for Down in 1991 and 1994; Daniel the Second later managed Down, leading the team to the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, before returning for a second, shorter, spell as manager in 2021. James the First's younger son Daniel also played for Down, including in the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. McCartan later became a

greyhound trainer A greyhound trainer is a person who trains greyhounds for racing. This involves exercising, feeding, and grooming them in addition to keeping the greyhound in race condition to enable the greyhound to race to the best of its ability. History Befo ...

and won the 1978 Irish Cesarewitch with a greyhound called Gullion Lad. He died in August 2021.

References

Down profile
hoganstand.com. 1938 births 2021 deaths Down inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football managers Irish greyhound racing trainers Ulster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers {{Down-gaelic-football-bio-stub