Declan Coulter (born 1987/8) is a hurler. He plays for Setanta, the Donegal county team and the Ireland national team. Coulter previously played for Cuchulainn's and the Armagh county team.

Playing career

Club

Following a move to Donegal, Coulter began playing for Setanta with whom he won a

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 ...

and an Ulster Junior Club Hurling Championship in 2017, scoring 1–6 in the Ulster JCHC final against Na Magha. He won his second Donegal SHC in 2019, scoring 1–2 (including 1 free) in the final. He played on the Setanta team that won the 2022 Ulster Junior Club Hurling Championship, scoring 0–10 (0–5 of which were frees) in the final. He played on the Setanta team that won the 2023 Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship, thus becoming the first team from Donegal to win the competition, and scored 0–1 in the final.

Inter-county

Coulter made his inter-county debut for Armagh at the age of 17 in 2005. He won his first

Nicky Rackard Cup The Nicky Rackard Cup (; often referred to as the Rackard Cup) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The cup forms the fourth-tier of Hurling for senior county teams (the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champi ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. He won his second Nicky Rackard Cup with Armagh in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, scoring 2–2 in the final against

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

. He continued to play for Armagh until 2016. Coulter began playing for Donegal in 2017. He played for Donegal during the

2018 National Hurling League The 2018 National Hurling League was the 87th season of the National Hurling League for county teams. Wexford finished top of Division 1B in 2017 and were promoted to Division 1A for 2018. Galway finished second in Division 1B in 2017 and so mis ...

, when the county recorded their first competitive victories over

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

and Down (he scored 1–1 in the comprehensive defeat of Derry and 0–2 in the three-point defeat of Down). Donegal also defeated Armagh in the closing game of that league campaign, with Coulter contributing 2–1 (including one penalty) to the three-point victory over his former side. Donegal went on to win the 2018 Nicky Rackard Cup, Coulter's first for Donegal and third overall, with Coulter scoring 1–10 (0–4 of which were frees, 0–1 of which was a '65) in the final, a seven-point victory for Donegal. The photograph is captioned: "Declan Coulter of Donegal celebrates with his daughter Lara, age 1, following the Nicky Rackard Cup Final match between Donegal and Warwickshire at Croke Park in Dublin". He was later named Nicky Rackard Hurler of the Year. He and fellow Donegal player Stephen Gillespie featured on the Nicky Rackard Team of the Year. Coulter was named as a replacement on the 2018 All-Star team for their game against the 2019 All-Star team in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

in November 2019. He put in a man of the match performance and scored 1–6 from play, despite not being an actual All-Star and being in the presence of hurlers from teams ranked above any across Ulster.

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, in 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 ...

'', wrote that Coulter, having outscored teammates of the calibre of

Séamus Harnedy Séamus Harnedy (born 17 July 1990) is an Irish hurling, hurler. At club level he plays with St Ita's GAA, St Ita's, divisional side Imokilly GAA, Imokilly and at inter-county level with the Cork senior hurling team. He usually lines out as a le ...

(Cork) and

Graeme Mulcahy Graeme Mulcahy (born 2 June 1990) is an Irish hurling, hurler who plays as a left corner-forward for club side Kilmallock GAA, Kilmallock and previously at inter-county level for the Limerick GAA, Limerick senior hurling team. Playing career K ...

(Limerick), had "made a major statement on behalf of hurlers from lower-ranked counties". Coulter has expressed his support for the "Team Ulster" concept that would allow

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

to contest the

Liam MacCarthy Cup The Liam MacCarthy Cup () is a trophy awarded annually by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Based on the design of a medieval drinking vessel, the trophy was first awarded i ...

Personal life

Having spent several years living in

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 ...

, Coulter settled in the Finn Valley area of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

. He met Ciara Cullen from Donegal while representing

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the Shinty-Hurling International Series in Dublin in 2006. Coulter later married her. Cullen is the sister of Donegal player

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. Coulter has since become a father. He has a son and a daughter.

Honours

;Armagh *

;Donegal *

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;Setanta *

Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship The Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Intermediate Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster GAA, Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

: 2023 * Ulster Junior Club Hurling Championship: 2017, 2022 *

: 2017, 2019 ;Individual *Nicky Rackard Hurler of the Year: 2018 *Nicky Rackard Team of the Year: 2018 *All-Stars Man of the Match, Abu Dhabi: 2019 *''

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 winner: March 2020 Original print title was "Coulter collects league title in Carrickmore".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulter, Declan 1980s births Living people Armagh inter-county hurlers Donegal inter-county hurlers Ireland international hurlers Irish schoolteachers Setanta hurlers 21st-century Irish sportsmen