Geoffrey McGonagle (born 26 September 1974) is 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 ...

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

who played

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 ...

and

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

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 ...

in the 1990s and 2000s. McGonagle played club football for St Canice's Dungiven and club hurling for Kevin Lynch's. Former team-mate

Joe Brolly Joe Brolly (born Padraig Joseph Brolly; 25 June 1969) is an Irish Gaelic football analyst, coach, selector, former player and barrister who played at senior level for the Derry county team. He is from Dungiven. Brolly played for Derry in the ...

said "first and foremost he was a great entertainer and character." In football, he played as a forward. For a big player he has extraordinary co-ordination and hand speed. He is also famed for his ability to dummy players. Brolly said "there were many times when you could only marvel at his wizardry". Brolly says when McGonagle "was on his game, there wasn't a footballer in the country who could have laced his boots" and described him as a scoring machine. He also played in the forward line in hurling.

Personal life

McGonagle is from

Dungiven Dungiven () is a small town, townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 road (Northern Ireland), A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the river ...

. He went to primary school at St Canice's in Dungiven and secondary school at St. Pat's College in

Maghera Maghera ( ; ) is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,235 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Formerly in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Loughinsholin within the historic County ...

Football career

Club

McGonagle won the

Ulster Minor Club Football Championship The Ulster Minor Club Football Championship (), often referred to as the St. Paul's Tournament, an annual Gaelic football tournament organised and hosted by the St Paul's club in Belfast. It is played between the Minor championship winners from ea ...

with Dungiven in 1990. He started playing for Dungiven Seniors while aged just 15. He was part of the Dungiven side that won the 1991

Derry Senior Football Championship The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champio ...

- beating Newbridge in the final. Dungiven reached the final again in 1996, but were defeated by

Bellaghy Bellaghy () is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north east of Magherafelt. In the centre of the village (known locally as The Diamond) three main roads lead to Magherafelt, ...

. McGonagle won another Derry Championship medal in 1997, this time Dungiven beat

Castledawson Castledawson is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is mostly within the townland of Shanemullagh (, IPA: �anˠˈʃanˠˌwʊl̪ˠəx, about four miles from the north-western shore of Lough Neagh, and near the market town of Mag ...

in the final. They also went on to win the

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament organised by Ulster GAA. It is played between the Senior championship winners from each of the nine counties of Ulster. The competition was first held in 1968 an ...

that year, with victory over Errigal Ciarán in the decider. In 2008 in the twilight of his career McGonagle played as a goalkeeper for Dungiven.

Inter-county

McGonagle was part of the Derry

Minor Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to an ...

team from a young age and won the 1990

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 ...

with the county - beating Down in the final. He made his Senior debut in 1994 against Down in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

. In 1995 he won the National League with Derry, and another the following year. McGonagle helped Derry win the 1998

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 ...

. In the final against Donegal, he set up fellow-Dungiven man

for the decisive goal late in the game. Derry beat

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 ...

in the 2000 National League final, giving McGonagle another League medal.

School

McGonagle had a successful school career winning seven Ulster College titles in football and hurling, including the

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup (), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The competition itself is re ...

in 1990.

Hurling career

Club

McGonagle has won the

Derry Senior Hurling Championship The Derry Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Derry GAA clubs. The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1887. Slaughtneil are the title holders, defeating ...

with Kevin Lynch's on at least 6 occasions. The club also reached the

Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship The Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association and contested ...

final in 2003, 2006 and 2007, but were beaten each time.

Inter-county

McGonagle won one/two?

Ulster Minor Hurling Championship The Ulster Hurling Minor Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Ulster GAA, Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1930 for the youngest competitors (under-18) in the province of Ulster in Ireland. It is ...

s with the Derry Minor team. He also won one/two?

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship The Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Ulster Championship, was an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It was the highest inter-county hurl ...

s with the county in 2000?? and 2001. McGonagle produced a "brilliant performance" in the 2001 decider against Antrim scoring 1-08. He retired from inter-county hurling in June 2005 after exiting the Ulster Championship. He later returned.

References

External links

Interview with ''Hogan Stand'' magazineArticle on McGonagle by Joe Brolly (2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGonagle, Geoffrey 1974 births Living people Derry inter-county Gaelic footballers Derry inter-county hurlers Dual players Dungiven Gaelic footballers Kevin Lynch's hurlers