Gary McDaid is a former

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and referee. As a club coach and manager, he contributed to three

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 ...

wins for

Glenswilly GAA Glenswilly GAA (Irish: ''CLG Gleann tSúilí'') is a GAA club based in Glenswilly, County Donegal, Ireland. Most noted for winning the Donegal Senior Football Championship in 2011, 2013 and 2016, the team has fielded players like All-Ireland ...

: twice as manager or joint-manager (2011, 2013) and once as coach to Michael Canning (2016).

Club

As a manager and coach of Glenswilly, he helped that team to two

s (

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

). During the 2011 season, McDaid criticised the county board for some scheduling decisions. He did not manage the team in 2012, and played with the club's reserves. Returning as manager in 2013, the club won the All-County Football League Division Two title. McDaid was part of Michael Canning's backroom team in 2016 as Glenswilly won their third county title. As of 2019, McDaid was registered as a referee.

County

McDaid was involved in coaching Donegal underage squads and worked under Joe McBrearty with Donegal's under-21 football team. In December 2014, McDaid joined the senior Donegal county team as a

selector Selector may refer to: *Selector, electrical or mechanical component, a switch *''Selector'', music scheduling software for radio stations created by Radio Computing Services *Selector, of music, otherwise known as a disc jockey *Selector, a pers ...

under manager

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as "Ireland's first rock star", he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometim ...

. He stayed for one season, standing aside from the role in October 2015, citing family commitments. In August 2017, some outlets included McDaid in list of potential candidates to succeed Gallagher as Donegal senior manager. He was not selected for the post and in November 2017 McDaid took the managerial role with Donegal's new under-20 football team.

Eamon McGee Eamon McGee (born 26 April 1984) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Gaoth Dobhair and also, formerly, for the Donegal county team (between 2004 and 2016). He is the older brother of Neil McGee. From Gweedore in County Donegal, he wo ...

and Brian Roper were in his back-room team. He continued as the under-20 manager in 2018. McDaid resigned in September 2019, stating that "results had not been as good as they had hoped". To complete an expected third year in the role, he would reportedly have needed to "face an interview for a post ".

Media

Writing ahead of the

2020 Donegal Senior Football Championship The 2020 Donegal Senior Football Championship was the 98th official edition of Donegal GAA's premier Gaelic football tournament for senior graded clubs in County Donegal. 16 teams competed, with the winner representing Donegal in the Ulster Se ...

, Gerry McLaughlin of Donegallive.ie wrote of McDaid that: "There are few more articulate, astute or acute observers of

Donegal GAA The Donegal County Board () or Donegal GAA is one of 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Donegal. The County Board is responsible for prepari ...

than one Gary McDaid from Glenswilly. He will always be remembered for masterminding a great victory for the Glen over hot favourites Kilcar in the county final of 2016". In 2016, in response to criticism of Glenswilly's performance in a low-scoring game, McDaid reportedly hit out at what he described as "armchair critics".

Personal life

As of 2013, McDaid was teaching PE at

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDaid, Gary Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Gaelic games players from County Donegal Gaelic football managers Gaelic football referees Gaelic football selectors Glenswilly Gaelic footballers Irish schoolteachers People associated with St Eunan's College