Oisín McConville ( ga, Oisín Mac Conmhaoil; born 13 October 1975) is an Irish Gaelic football

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 ...

and former player. He has been manager of the Wicklow county team since 2022. McCoville played at senior level for the Armagh county team in the 1990s and 2000s. He won an

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 ...

medal, seven Ulster Championships and a

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 ...

title with the county. He was also awarded two All Stars. McConville played club football for

Crossmaglen Rangers Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic Athletic Club ( ga, Raonaithe na Croise) is a GAA club in Crossmaglen, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They cater for Gaelic football and camogie. Their home football ground is St. Oliver Plunkett Park, which was op ...

and won six

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Kilcoo of ...

s, ten

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and t ...

s and 16

Armagh Senior Football Championship The Armagh Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Armagh GAA clubs. The Armagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1889. Clann Éireann are the title hold ...

s with the club. McConville played as

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He was one of the game's best point-scorers and an expert free-taker. He was consistently a high scorer for Armagh and is the all-time top Ulster scorer in Championship football with a tally of 11–197 (230). He is widely considered one of Armagh's best ever players. In 2009 to mark the 125th anniversary of the

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

he was named by ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewpoint, though it als ...

'' as one of the all-time best 125 footballers from Ulster. Despite his success on the field McConville's personal life has been plagued by gambling problems. He now works as an addiction counsellor.

Background

McConville was born in

Crossmaglen Crossmaglen (, ) is a village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,610 in the 2011 Census and is the largest village in South Armagh. The village centre is the site of a large Police Service of Northern Ire ...

South Armagh South Armagh may refer to: *The southern part of County Armagh * South Armagh (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency) *South Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) *Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional ...

. His uncle Gene Morgan played for Armagh and played in the 1953 All-Ireland final. McConville's brother Jim is also regarded as one of Armagh's best ever footballers. He also appeared in a New Year's Eve '' Celebrity Jigs n' Reels'' special.

Playing career

Inter-county

McConville made his Armagh Senior debut in the

Dr McKenna Cup The Dr McKenna Cup is an annual Gaelic football competition played between counties and universities in the province of Ulster. It is the secondary Gaelic football competition based in Ulster behind the Ulster Senior Football Championship, an ...

final at

Clones Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, County Fermanagh * Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland Biology * Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...

on 25 September 1994. He played in the half forward line for Armagh in their 2002 All-Ireland winning year. In the 2002 All Ireland Final against Kerry, he overcame the setback of having his first half penalty saved, to step up and score the vital second half goal that was instrumental in Armagh winning a tight contest. As well as his All Ireland Senior medal, McConville holds two All Star awards (2000 and 2002), seven Ulster Senior Championship medals (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008) and a National League Winners medal (2005). He also holds the record for the highest individual score in an Ulster Final, when he notched 2-07 against Down in the 1999 Ulster Final. He has also won Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Minor League and Championship, and two U-21 Championships. During his schooldays at

Abbey CBS The Abbey School (formerly Abbey CBS) is a Christian Brothers Secondary School in the town of Tipperary, County Tipperary, Ireland. The Abbey is an all-boys school and has about 412 students. In recent years the school has been extended twice ...

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

, he won D'Alton, Corn na nÓg, and Rannafast Cups, and was a

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The win ...

runner up whilst at

Saint Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh St Patrick's Grammar School ( ga, Scoil Ghramadaí Naomh Pádraig), Armagh, is a Roman Catholic boys' non-selective voluntary grammar school in the city of Armagh, Northern Ireland. The present-day school was officially opened on Thursday, 27 ...

. He won six All-Ireland Club titles with Crossmaglen in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2011 and 2012, and was top scorer in four of those years. McConville retired from inter-county football after the 2008 season.

Club

McConville was part of the Crossmaglen team that won 13

s in a row between 1996 and 2008. This equalled the national record for consecutive county football championships set by Ballina Stephenites of

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 ...

between 1904 and 1916. He also won the

seven times (1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008), and the

six times (1997, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2011 and 2012) with the club. McConville, along with

Paul Hearty Paul Hearty is an Irish Gaelic footballer who played as goalkeeper for the Armagh county team. He was named in goal for the 2006 ''Irish News'' Ulster Allstars team for his performances in Armagh's 2006 Uster championship win. Club Hearty wa ...

, John McEntee, Tony McEntee, Francie Bellew and Cathal Short is one of six Cross players to have shared in all these successes since 1996. When McConville missed the 2009 Armagh Championship semi-final against Armagh Harps through injury, it ended a run of 103 consecutive Championship games for Crossmaglen. McConville announced his retirement from Crossmaglen Rangers after their All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final defeat to St Brigid's on 16 February 2013.

Province

School

McConville attended the

Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School The Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School (Irish: ''Scoil na Mainistreach, Iúr Cinn Trá'' ) is a voluntary day school for boys aged 11 – 18 years in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. History The school was established in 1851 by memb ...

before taking his

A-levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

at St. Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh.

Media career

He has interviewed people who are involved in Gaelic games for the '' Sunday Life'' newspaper, including Barry Cassidy and

Tomás Corrigan Tomás Corrigan (born 1990) is a Gaelic footballer who has played for Fermanagh GAA club Kinawley, Dublin GAA club St Oliver Plunketts and the Fermanagh county team. He attended St Michael's College, Enniskillen, and then went onto study ...

Managerial career

McConville managed

Meath GAA The Meath County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste na Mí) or Meath GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Meath, as well as for M ...

club Seneschalstown and

Dundalk IT Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT; ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Dhún Dealgan) is an institute of technology, located in Dundalk, Ireland. Established as the Dundalk Regional Technical College, students were first enrolled in the coll ...

, and was managing

Monaghan GAA The Monaghan County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Mhuineacháin) or Monaghan GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Monaghan ...

club Inniskeen Grattans when he was appointed manager of the senior Wicklow county team ahead of the 2023 season.

Honours

;Club * 17

1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 * 10

1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 * 6

1997, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2011, 2012 ;As manager * 2

2014, 2015 * 1

2015 ;Inter-county * 1

2002 * 7

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 ...

1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 * 1

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 ...

2005 ;Individual * 2 All Star 2000, 2002 * Amongst highest scoring players in All-Ireland Senior Football Championship history.

References

External links

Details on Oisín McConville
{{DEFAULTSORT:McConville, Oisin 1975 births Living people Armagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic footballers Gaelic football forwards Gaelic football managers Gaelic games writers and broadcasters People educated at St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh People educated at Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football)