Noel McGinley 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

Naomh Columba This is a list of the saints of Ireland, which attempts to give an overview of saints from Ireland or venerated in Ireland. The vast majority of these saints lived during the 4th–10th centuries, the period of early Christian Ireland, when Celtic ...

and the Donegal county team. He played at the back. McGinley played in the final of 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 ...

. Late in that game, McGinley was involved in the game's crucial moment when

Geoffrey McGonagle Geoffrey McGonagle (born 26 September 1974) is a dual player of Gaelic games who played Gaelic football and hurling for Derry in the 1990s and 2000s. McGonagle plays club football for St Canice's Dungiven and club hurling for Kevin Lynch's. ...

committed an apparent foul on him (which was ignored) and Joe Brolly scored the decisive goal. 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 Derry ...

'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. He also played in the 2002 Ulster SFC final but never won the competition as a player. He 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 The 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 116th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 5 May 2002 and e ...

quarter-final. 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 ...

in Tuam in February 2003. McGinley's 2003 inter-county season ended when he was banned for three months over a kicking offence incurred while playing for his club ahead of the Donegal's All-Ireland semi-final 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 ...

. He had previously been troubled by a hamstring injury and manager

had sent him back to his club to play one half of a game so as have sufficient match practice ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final. The ban was unexpected.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs Naomh Columba Gaelic footballers {{Donegal-gaelic-football-bio-stub