Niall O'Donnell (born 1998) is an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who plays for St Eunan's and the Donegal county team. The ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

s Colm Keys named O'Donnell among his "18 for 08: The brightest young talents" in Gaelic football, describing him as "both elusive and skilful". He is the younger brother of Conor O'Donnell Snr, the eldest of the St Eunan's Conor O'Donnells.

Education

O'Donnell attended

St Eunan's College St Eunan's College ( ; ), known locally as The College to distinguish it from the cathedral and GAA club, is a voluntary Roman Catholic all-male, English-medium secondary day school (and former boarding school) in County Donegal, Ireland. It ...

, where he played for the school team. In 2016, following his Ulster minor title with Donegal, he became the eighth student from the school to win an Ulster Colleges All Star, succeeding — among others — Michael Murphy and Shaun Patton; O'Donnell played alongside Patton in the school team.

Playing career

Club

O'Donnell

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

ed his club at under-21 level. He played in county finals at under-12, under-14, under-16, minor, under-21 and senior levels. He made his senior debut for his club as a replacement for John Haran in the remaining two minutes of the final of the 2015 Donegal Senior Football Championship, which his club lost by one point against Naomh Conaill. He later said: "I got one touch. I just laid it off. I was a bit young to be taking a big shot on then". O'Donnell's brother

Conor Conor is a male given name of Irish origin. The meaning of the name is "Lover of Wolves" or "Lover of Hounds". '' Conchobhar/Conchubhar'' or from the name ''Conaire'', found in Irish legend as the name of the high king Conaire Mór and other her ...

also plays alongside him for the club. As does his brother

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born ...

. O'Donnell, a

dual player Dual player or dual star is a term used in Hiberno-English to describe someone who competes in multiple sports — for example, in Victorian Ireland, cricket and hurling. The term today in Gaelic games typically describes a male player who plays ...

, has also played

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

for his club. He played from the start in, and scored in, the 2017

Donegal Senior Hurling Championship The Donegal Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Donegal GAA clubs. The County Final is usually played at O'Donnell Park in Letterkenny. Burt GAA, Burt are the title holders, defeating Setanta Hurli ...

final. He

ed his club to the 2021 Donegal Senior Football Championship, aged 23, scoring three points in the final.

Inter-county

Minor

O'Donnell was part of the team that reached the 2016 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship semi-final. He was joint-

of the Donegal minor team with

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 m ...

Senior

O'Donnell first featured for his county at senior level 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 title in 1992. He later managed the Donegal county team ...

. He played against Kerry as a half-time substitute in the opening fixture of the 2018 National Football League at

Fitzgerald Stadium Fitzgerald Stadium () is the principal GAA stadium in Killarney, Ireland, and is the home championship venue for the Kerry senior football team. Named in honour of one of the first great players of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Dick Fitz ...

. He did not feature on the pitch when Donegal won the

2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship was the 130th instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. T ...

, as, alongside Jason McGee, he had decided to drop down to play with the under-20 team instead. Donegal qualified for the 2019 National Football League Division 2 final and O'Donnell started the game and scored two points as Donegal defeated

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

to win the title. O'Donnell played for the first 42 minutes in the final of the

2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 131st instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Th ...

against

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

, scoring one point and claiming his first Ulster senior title. He had made a substitute appearance against

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...

in the quarter-final and started in the semi-final win over Tyrone. O'Donnell did not feature in Donegal's opening fixture of the 2020 National Football League against Mayo. He made a substitute appearance in the second game against Meath, scoring a point. He made three further substitute appearances against

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

. Then the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

brought play to a halt. Play resumed

behind closed doors Behind Closed Doors may refer to: Film, television and radio Film * ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli * Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...

on 18 October with a home game against Tyrone; O'Donnell started that game and scored two points. He also made a substitute appearance in the concluding game of the league campaign (away to Kerry). O'Donnell then started the

2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 132nd installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. ...

victory against Tyrone. He also started the semi-final victory against Armagh, scoring two points (one of which was a mark). He scored two points in the final against Cavan, in what proved to be the season's concluding game for his team. O'Donnell started each of Donegal's four fixtures of the 2021 National Football League (against Tyrone, Monaghan,

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

and Dublin), scoring one point against Tyrone, two points against Monaghan, one point (from a free) against Armagh and one point against Dublin. He started each of Donegal's three fixtures of the

2021 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2021 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 133rd installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. ...

, scoring a point against Down, three points against Derry and two points against Tyrone. O'Donnell made substitute appearances in the opening fixture of the 2022 National Football League, against Mayo, and in the third fixture, against Kerry. He started the fourth fixture, against Tyrone. He made a substitute appearance in the final game against Armagh. In the

2022 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2022 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 134th installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. ...

, O'Donnell made substitute appearances in each of Donegal's three fixtures, the quarter-final against Armagh, the semi-final against Cavan and the final against Derry (which included

extra-time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

, during which he played). He made a late substitute appearance in the

2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2022 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) was the 135th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament since its establishment in 1887. Tyrone county football team, Tyrone entered the ...

qualifier loss to Armagh, during which he scored a point.

Personal life

As of 2021,

Permanent TSB Permanent TSB Group Holdings plc, formerly Irish Life and Permanent plc is a provider of personal financial services in Ireland. Irish Life Assurance plc and the Irish Permanent Building Society merged to form the Irish Life and Permanent Group ...

in Letterkenny employed O'Donnell.

Honours

;Donegal *

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* 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 T ...

: 2016 ;St Eunan's *

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 know ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

( c.) * Donegal Under-21 Football Championship: 2018, 2019 * Donegal Minor Football Championship: 2015 ;Individual * Ulster Colleges All Star: 2016 * ''

Donegal News The ''Donegal News'' (also known as ''Derry People/Donegal News'' and formerly ''Derry People'') is a twice-weekly local newspaper in the northwest of the island of Ireland, first published in 1902. Originally covering Derry, Northern Ireland, i ...

'' Sports Personality Award: December 2015 * Player of the Tournament — St Paul's Ulster Minor Football Tournament: 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Niall 1998 births Living people Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Dual players People educated at St Eunan's College St Eunan's Gaelic footballers St Eunan's hurlers 21st-century Irish sportsmen