Aaron Doherty 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 Naomh Columba and the Donegal county team.

Playing career

Doherty played football at minor level for Donegal, and was a star player at underage level for his club, Naomh Columba. He has also played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

for

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

at underage level, as well as St Catherine's and Letterbarrow Celtic. He was first called into the Donegal senior team during the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, following the departure of other players. He won an

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 ...

medal shortly afterwards, his first Ulster medal at any level of play. Doherty started Donegal's fifth fixture of the 2022 National Football League against

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 ...

, scoring a point. He then started the sixth fixture against

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 ...

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

, scoring another point. Doherty made a substitute appearance 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. ...

final, scoring an extra-time point from a mark. He had earlier made substitute appearances in the quarter-final victory over

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 the semi-final victory over

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 ( ...

. He started 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, scoring a point. Doherty did not feature in the Donegal panel for the 2023 season. He opted to focus on his club football at this time. With

Jim McGuinness Jim McGuinness (born 16 November 1972) is a Gaelic football coach, and former player, who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as a player with, and later manager of, the Donegal county team. Since 2023, he has been manager, for ...

returning as manager, Doherty returned to the Donegal panel, featuring in a number of

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

matches and getting on the score sheet in a many of those fixtures, including the Division 2 final, where Doherty scored the deciding point to defeat rivals Armagh. In the final of the

2024 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2024 Ulster Senior Football Championship was the 136th installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It was one of the four provincial competitions of the 2024 All-Ireland Senior Football Championsh ...

, Doherty scored two penalties in the shootout as Donegal defeated Armagh once again.

Personal life

Doherty is from near Teelin, in the parish of Gleann Cholm Cille. He attended Coláiste na Carraige and

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological University Dublin, as TU Dublin City Campus. The insti ...

. He is a first cousin of Donegal panel member Philip Doherty.

Honours

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 ...

EirGrid EirGrid plc is the state-owned electric power transmission operator in Ireland. It is a public limited company registered under the Companies Acts; its shares are held by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. It is one ...

U20 Football Championship Player of the Year: 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doherty, Aaron 2000s births Living people Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs Gaelic footballers who switched code Naomh Columba Gaelic footballers Association footballers from County Donegal Men's association football players not categorized by position Republic of Ireland men's association footballers St Catherine's F.C. players 21st-century Irish sportsmen