Martin McElhinney (born 10 August 1988) is 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 plays for St Michael's and also, formerly, for the Donegal county team (between 2007 and 2019). Among other accolades, he has one

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 ...

and four

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 ...

s to his name. He is from

Creeslough Creeslough ( , locally ; ga, An Craoslach ) is a village in County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the t ...

Playing career

Club and college

McElhinney's club reached the final of the 2011

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 ...

— their first ever senior final—but lost, though McElhinney scored during the game. McElhinney also played for DCU.

Inter-county

McElhinney scored two goals for Donegal at

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 the 2006 Ulster Minor Football Championship Final, which Donegal won. He made his debut at senior inter-county level under the management of

Brian McIver Brian McIver is a Gaelic football manager who has been in charge of two county teams and been part of another that played in an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final. He was the 2007 National Football League-winning manager. A Tyrone ...

in 2007. By the time of

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

's arrival as manager, McElhinney was still part of the team. Against

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 the

2011 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2011 Ulster Senior Football Championship was the 123rd installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship held under the auspices of the Ulster GAA. It was won by Donegal who defeated Derry in the final. It was their first Ulste ...

final,

Rory Kavanagh Rory Kavanagh ( ga, Ruairí Ó Caomhánach; born 23 August 1982) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player with St Eunan's and the Donegal county team. He currently manages the St Eunan's club. Alongside Colm McFadden and Christy ...

went off injured late in the first half and McElhinney replaced him. In the 2012 Ulster final against Down, his appearance as a second-half substitute was credited with being vital to the victory. He started Donegal's next game, a comprehensive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final defeat of

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 ...

. He came on as a second-half substitute for

Patrick McBrearty Patrick McBrearty (born 5 August 1993) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Cill Chartha and the Donegal county team. He is usually selected in the full-forward line for his county, often flanking Michael Murphy with Colm McFadden (befo ...

in the

2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2012 All-Ireland Football Final, the 125th event of its kind and the culmination of the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was played at Croke Park, Dublin, on 23 September 2012. Donegal and Mayo, widely considered "one of the mos ...

, won by Donegal. He was treated like a VIP when himself and

Maxi Curran Maxi Curran is a Gaelic football manager from Downings, County Donegal. He attended Mulroy College in Milford for his secondary education. Curran succeeded McGuinness as Donegal under-21 football team manager on 19 January 2012. He has also b ...

brought the

Sam Maguire Cup The Sam Maguire Cup ( ga, Chorn Sam Mhic Uidhir), often referred to as Sam or The Sam , is a trophy awarded annually by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the main competiti ...

to Mulroy College in Milford. McElhinney started

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...

's first match in charge of the county, a 2015 Dr McKenna Cup away defeat to

. He came on a substitute in the first match of the 2015 National Football League (also against Derry but at home), contributing 0–1 to the team's victory. He also made a substitute appearances in the next game against Dublin at Croke Park, the third fixture against Cork in Ballyshannon and the fourth fixture against Monaghan. He started the fifth fixture against Kerry at

Austin Stack Park Austin Stack Park is a GAA stadium in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. It is one of the stadiums used by Kerry GAA's Gaelic football team and the stadium of the hurling team. The ground was named after Austin Stack, an Irish revolutionary an ...

and contributed 0–1. He started the sixth fixture against Tyrone and scored 0–2 in what RTÉ described as an "impressive" performance. He followed this up with a further point in the seventh fixture against Mayo. Donegal qualified for the NFL semi-final. McElhinney started and scored 0–2. McElhinney started the

2015 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2015 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 127th instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship held under the auspices of Ulster GAA. It was one of the four provincial competitions of the 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football ...

final. He had previously started the preliminary round against Tyrone (scoring 1–2), the quarter-final against Armagh (scoring 0–1) and the semi-final against Derry (scoring 0–1). McElhinney made substitute appearances in the

2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 128th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football since its establishment in 1887. 33 teams took part − 31 Counties of Ireland, counties of Ir ...

qualifier defeat of Galway at Croke Park and the next game against Mayo at the same venue. McElhinney made a substitute appearance in the second fixture of the 2016 National Football League against Cork, a ten-point win in Ballyshannon. He also made substitute appearances in the third and fourth fixtures against Mayo and Kerry. He started the fifth fixture against Roscommon. Another substitute appearance followed in the next game away to Dublin at Croke Park, during which James McCarthy used his left hand to seemingly gouge McElhinney's eye. McCarthy, who had actually just been shown a red card before he did this, escaped punishment and Dublin manager Jim Gavin said: "To be suggesting there was something malicious, I don't think that's very fair". The ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' called for McCarthy to be investigated. But the incident was dismissed as a push by

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

pundits

Senan Connell Senan Connell is an Irish Gaelic footballer who played for the Na Fianna club on Dublin's Northside and for the Dublin county team. Senan operated in the half forward line for Dublin. He made his debut for Dublin in a national league match ...

(former Dublin player) and former Armagh player

Aaron Kernan Aaron Kernan (born 16th December 1983) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for the Crossmaglen Rangers club and, formerly, for the Armagh county team. Kernan is the son of former Armagh player and manager Joe Kernan, his brothers Stephen ...

dismissed the incident as a push. McElhinney started the seventh fixture away to Monaghan in

Castleblayney Castleblayney (; ) is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town had a population of 3,607 as of the 2016 census. Castleblayney is near the border with County Armagh in Northern Ireland, and lies on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Let ...

and scored a goal. Donegal qualified for the NFL semi-final. McElhinney also started this game, scoring a point. McElhinney made a substitute appearance in the 2016 Ulster Senior Football Championship final. He had previously started the quarter-final against Fermanagh (scoring 0–1), the semi-final against Monaghan and the semi-final replay against the same opposition (scoring 0–1). McElhinney also started the

2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 129th edition of the GAA's premier inter-county gaelic football tournament since its establishment in 1887. 33 teams took part. 31 of the 32 Counties of Ireland participated, with Kilke ...

qualifier defeat of Cork at Croke Park and the next game against Dublin at the same venue. McElhinney made a late substitute appearance in the fifth fixture of the 20017 National Football League against Tyrone. He made further substitute appearances in the sixth and seventh fixtures against Monaghan and Mayo. McElhinney made substitute appearances in the 2017 Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final victory against Antrim and semi-final loss to Tyrone. He made a further substitute appearance in the

2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 130th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament since its establishment in 1887. Thirty-three teams took part – thirty-one of th ...

qualifier defeat of Meath at

Páirc Tailteann Páirc Tailteann () is a Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA stadium in Navan, County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of the Meath GAA, Meath Gaelic football and Hurling teams. The ground has had a capacity of between 30,000 an ...

. He then made a substitute appearance in the qualifier loss to Galway at

Markievicz Park Markievicz Park ( ga, Páirc Marcievicz) is the principal GAA stadium in County Sligo, Ireland, home to the Sligo Gaelic football and hurling teams. Built in 1955 in Sligo town (due mostly to Seán Forde who single-handedly gathered the funds ne ...

and scored 0–1. Under the management of

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 ...

, McElhinney made his 100th appearance for Donegal against Cavan in the 2019 Dr McKenna Cup. Following Donegal's victory over Armagh in the 2019 National Football League, McElhinney informed Bonner of his decision to withdraw from inter-county football. He had been an unused substitute in that game and the game before, though he had played in three earlier games of that year's league. These were a substitute appearance in the opening fixture of the competition against

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

, Meath in the second fixture (starting then making way for

Jason McGee Jason McGee (born 1997/8) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Cloich Cheann Fhaola and the Donegal county team. He is a former Australian rules football trialist. Playing career Minor McGee has an Ulster Minor Football Championship ...

), and again as a substitute, on this occasion for

Oisín Gallen Oisín Gallen (born 1999/2000) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Seán Mac Cumhaills and the Donegal county team. He plays as a forward. Playing career Club 2018 was when Gallen first played for his club in the senior championship. ...

, in the third fixture against

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

Personal life

McElhinney has also played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

for Fanad United in the Ulster Senior League. A photograph of McElhinney at the top of the page is captioned: "Martin McElhinney is an important player for Fanad United".

Honours

;Donegal *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* National Football League Division 2:

Ulster Minor Football Championship The Ulster Minor Football Championship is the Minor "knockout" competition in the game of Gaelic football played in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ulster Council. The trophy for the winning side is Th ...

: 2006

References

External links

Official profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcelhinney, Martin 1988 births Living people DCU Gaelic footballers Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Fanad United F.C. players Gaelic footballers who switched code St Michael's (Donegal) Gaelic footballers Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football)