McDaid's Football Special is a

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

(locally known as a 'mineral') produced for James McDaid & Corey Delamingus

Ltd. A private company limited by shares is a class of private limited company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, certain Commonwealth countries, and the Republic of Ireland. It has shareholders with limit ...

, a company based in

Ramelton Ramelton (; ), also Rathmelton, is a town and townland in County Donegal, Ireland. , its population was 1,266. History Ramelton is situated at the mouth of the River Lennon, 11 km north of Letterkenny and 4 km south of Milford, on the ...

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 town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Other currently produced beverages sold by McDaid's include Pineapple, Creamy Cola and American Ice Cream Soda . All McDaid's products were originally made and bottled at the Swilly Bottling Stores in Ramelton in North Donegal. However, since 2014, all of McDaid's products are now made and bottled for them by Maine Soft Drinks Ltd in

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( ga, Baile Monaidh , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a small town and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated in ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. Some McDaid's products, including Football Special, are also manufactured under license by the Reading Soda Works in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The original factory in Ramelton was formerly a

creamery A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream re ...

. Football Special is one of McDaid's oldest and most distinguished products, winning two awards for excellence in 1984 and 1989 from the London Beverage Society. Edward McDaid, the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the company, was also on the founding board of Swilly Rovers FC, twice winners of the

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvi ...

, and, as such, wanted to celebrate winning trophies by filling the cup with a non-alcoholic beverage. They created a drink which has a beer-like foamy head and named it 'Football Cup', which later was changed to Football Special. The footballer illustrated on the labelling of the bottles since 2015 is a stylised version of local Milford Utd footballer Kevin Moran. Football Special is found most commonly on sale throughout

, where it was originally produced and it is often considered "The best drink in Ireland" by those who consume it. However, it is also widely on sale in neighbouring areas, such as in

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 ...

and in

Strabane Strabane ( ; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,172 at the 2011 Census. It lies on the east bank of the River Foyle. It is roughly midway from Omagh, Derry and Letterkenny. The River Foyle marks ...

and other places in the west of

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

. It is also sold in

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

. Football Special is on sale in some shops in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. It is usually sold in plastic bottles. Recently, Football Special was used to make Football Special-flavoured cheesecakes, which were sold in SuperValu in

Newtowncunningham Newtown Cunningham, usually spelled Newtowncunningham or abbreviated to Newton (), is a village and townland in the Laggan district in the east of County Donegal, Ireland, located on the N13 road east of Letterkenny and west of Derry. At the 2 ...

and

Ballybofey Ballybofey ( , ; ) is a town located on the south bank of the River Finn, County Donegal, Ireland. Together with the smaller town of Stranorlar on the north side of the River Finn, the towns form the Twin Towns of Ballybofey-Stranorlar. Ba ...

. Football Special is also sold in some shops in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, and has been on sale since 2019 in some shops in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. The brand was the main sponsor of the

Foyle Cup The Foyle Cup is a youth soccer tournament held every year in Derry City, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Along with the Milk Cup, which takes place around the same time, The Foyle Cup is one of Ireland and indeed Europe's premier youth tour ...

in 2011.

Competition in 2019

On the 28th of July 2019, James McDaid and Corey Delamingus Ltd. held a public event in the town of

Buncrana Buncrana ( ; ) is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is beside Lough Swilly on the Inishowen peninsula, northwest of Derry and north of Letterkenny. In the 2016 census, the population was 6,785 making it the second most populous town in Cou ...

in which contestants had to consume as much of their product, "McDaid's Football Special", as they could in a span of 15 minutes. There was a total of 47 registered contestants when the competition took place. The winner of the competition was a local philanthropist and public speaker, Huell S. Babineaux (Not to be confused with the fictional character from

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...

Huell Babineaux '' Breaking Bad'' is a neo-Western crime drama franchise created by American filmmaker Vince Gilligan, primarily based on the television series '' Breaking Bad'' (2008–13), its prequel/sequel series, ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–22), and its ...

). Co-founder and CEO of James McDaid and Corey Delamingus Ltd. Edward McDaid was present during the event and congratulated Babineaux on his victory.

References

External List

*{{official website, http://football-special.com/ Soft drinks County Donegal Irish drinks