Rory Gallagher (Gaelic footballer)

Rory Gallagher

Personal information
Irish name	Ruaidhrí Ó Gallchobhair
Sport	Gaelic football
Position	Full Forward
Born	(1978-08-22) 22 August 1978 Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Occupation	Retail manager
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Erne Gaels St Brigid's Crosserlough St Gall's
Club titles
Fermanagh titles	2 (1 Dublin, 1 Antrim)
Ulster titles	2 (1 Dublin, 1 Antrim)
All-Ireland Titles	1 (St Gall's)
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1998-2005 2007	Fermanagh Cavan
Inter-county titles
Ulster titles	0
All-Irelands	0
NFL	0
All Stars	0

Rory Gallagher (born 22 August 1978) is a former gaelic footballer and current manager of Donegal. Gallagher has lined out for the Fermanagh and Cavan inter-county teams, as well as several club teams, including his home club Erne Gaels, as well as Dublin side Saint Brigids and Antrim's St Gall's. He was a selector for Donegal during their 2012 Championship success, acting as number two to Jim McGuinness. He left the Donegal panel after the 2013 championship but later returned as Jim McGuinness's successor in October 2014 when McGuinness stood down after Donegal lost to Kerry in the 2014 All-Ireland SFC Final. He was joint manager of CLG Chill Chartha with John McNulty in 2014 during his time out of from the county panel.

Playing career

He broke his leg in October 1993.

Club

Gallagher won the Antrim Senior Football Championship and the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship with St Gall's in 2009 and added the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship in 2010. He won the Dublin Senior Football Championship and the Leinster Senior Club Football Championship with Saint Brigids in 2003.

Inter-county

Gallagher has played for Fermanagh and for Cavan.

In 2002, Gallagher scored 3-09 in an Ulster Championship game against Monaghan. He was top scorer in the Ulster Senior Football Championship for three consecutive years, in 2000 (1-19), 2001 (0-16) and 2002 (4-12). After soaring to such heights he quit Fermanagh in 2002.

He briefly returned to Fermanagh in 2010. Then he left such was his disgust when John O'Neill was appointed county manager.

In 2011, he joined the Donegal senior football team as a selector. As soon as he joined he knew all the players' names. Jim McGuinness had originally recruited Peter McGinley but he had work commitments and spoke of Gallagher as an impressive coach. Martin McHugh also thinks highly of him. McGuinness decided to call upon Gallagher. Since his arrival McGuinness's team have twice won Ulster and in 2012 they got their hands on Sam the man himself. The people of Donegal now look upon Gallagher with awe and reverence and as a kind of demi-god to Jim's Messiah. Gallagher lives in Killybegs where he is the manager of the local SuperValu.

He resigned as a selector in 2013. He was then linked with the vacant Fermanagh and Antrim jobs but settled instead for Donegal Under-21s assistant manager under Maxi Curran. After his departure from the Donegal senior team, fellow McGuinness underling Curran, who also sacrificed himself, said: "I think that Rory made an enormous contribution to Donegal's success as a tactician, coach, motivator and diplomat. He did not spare himself in bringing Donegal right up to the top [...] I cannot speak highly enough of him and I consider it an honour and a privilege to have worked alongside him. He will undoubtedly be a massive asset to any club or county side fortunate enough to engage his services."

Managerial Career

After Gallagher left the Donegal panel in 2013, he became joint manager of CLG Chill Chartha with John McNulty.

After the departure of Jim McGuinness. Gallagher and former Mayo manager James Horan were rumored as the most likely replacements until Horan announced he was not interested in the job. This left Gallagher as the most likely candidate. Gallagher was appointed the new Manager of the Donegal Senior football team in October 2014.

Gallagher made his competitive managerial debut for Donegal in the national league first division in a win against Derry with a score of 1-15 0-12. His second game ended in a defeat against Dublin losing 2-10 0-11. His third game ended with a marginal win against Cork with a scoreline of 0-12 1-08. Donegal's next meeting came against Monaghan resulting in a defeat of 1-04 0-09. Another win followed against Tyrone in a 1-13 0-06 scoreline. In the final round Donegal drew with Mayo 0-12 1-09 but made it through to the semi final on points difference but lost to Cork in a scoreline of 4-11 0-19.

Gallagher's championship debut soon followed with Donegal meeting Tyrone in the preliminary round with the winner facing Armagh. Donegal overcame Tyrone in Ballybofey with a win of 1-13 1-10. Donegal later faced Kieran McGeeney's Armagh in what was expected to be a tough match following the previous years meeting in the All-Ireland SFC Quarter final where Donegal snatched a victory 2 minutes from time winning by a point in a tense game that was going either way. However, it was not the case this time as Gallagher's men eased their way to victory with a 0-08 2-11 win allowing Donegal to progress to the semi final to meet Derry whom they beat 0-10 1-09 in Clones to make Gallagher's first Ulster SFC Final as manager and Donegal's fifth successive final which resulted in a narrow defeat to Monaghan by a score line of 0-11 0-10.

As a result of Donegal losing in the Ulster SFC Final, Gallagher's men met Galway on August 1st 2015 at Croke Park in the last round of the All Ireland Qualifiers. Donegal defeated Galway in a scoreline of 3-12 0-11 setting up a meeting with Connacht Champions Mayo in the All Ireland SFC Quarter Final which resulted in defeat for Donegal by a 2-13 0-11 scoreline bringing an end to their 2015 championship campaign.

External links

• http://www.cul4kidz.com/culstarsfball_gallagher.htm