James McCartan 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 ...

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 former player who played at senior level for the Down county team between 1990 and 2000. McCartan was part of the Down team that won the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. McCartan also won two

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 ...

s with the county. At underage level McCartan won Ulster Minor and

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it was replaced by an under ...

medals. He also won two All Star awards during his career. McCartan usually played as a corner forward. He was renowned for his speed, swerving runs at the defence and scoring ability. McCartan is regarded as one of the Down's best ever footballers. In 2009 to mark the 125th anniversary of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

he was named by ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

'' as one of the all-time best 125 footballers from Ulster. In 2009, he took charge of the Down senior team, leading them to the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final in his first season in charge. He stepped down in 2014.

Early life and family

McCartan is from Tullylish,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. His father, also called

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

, is regarded as one of the game's all-time greats and won three All-Ireland medals with Down in the 1960s. James's brothers

Daniel Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...

and Eoin are current members of the Down team, while Charlie Pat also played for Down and Brian was the captain of the 1987 Down minor team that won the All-Ireland Minor Championship. He is Greg Blaney's cousin.

Playing career

Club

Inter-county

In 1986 at just 15 years old McCartan helped the Down

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 win the Ulster Minor title. In 1987 McCartan helped the Down

team win both the Ulster Minor and

s. McCartan made his Down

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut in 1990. For his performances in the 1990 Championship he received an All Star award. He was the star player during the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

in which Down was defeated by Meath in the final. In

he won his first Ulster Championship medal, with Down beating Donegal in the decider. Down defeated Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final, before beating

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 All-Ireland final. McCartan was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

for his display in the final. The success was Down's first

title since 1968. McCartan won a second Ulster Championship medal with Down in

- overcoming Tyrone comfortably in the decider. Victories over

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final and

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 ...

in the final gave McCartan another All-Ireland Senior medal. For his performances that year he received another

All Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

. McCartan reached further Ulster finals with Down in 1996, 1999 and 2003, but the county were beaten on each occasion. He retired from inter-county football in 2003.

Province

McCartan also represented

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 ...

on many occasions, and won the

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

four times with the province.

International rules

McCartan played two games for the

Ireland international rules football team The Ireland international rules football team is the representative team for Ireland in international rules football, a compromise between Gaelic football and Australian rules football. The team is made up of Irish players from the Gaelic Athl ...

in the victorious 1990 International Rules series. In 2001, he helped the

Ireland national Australian rules football team The Irish national Australian rules football team represent Ireland in Australian rules football and is selected from the best Irish born and raised players primarily from the clubs of the Australian Rules Football League of Ireland but also ...

claim the

Atlantic Alliance Cup The Atlantic Alliance Cup is an international Australian rules football tournament run every 3 years. The inaugural tournament pitted clubs and national teams from the North Atlantic together. History Like the Australian Football International ...

School/college

McCartan won

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

medals with

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

in 1990 and 1993.

Managerial career

Queen's University

Since retiring McCartan has managed a number of teams. The first team he took charge of was Queen's University who he led to a

title in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Down

On 11 September 2009, he was named manager of the Down senior football team. He led his team to the 2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final in his first season in charge but they lost to

. Down had a poor 2011 season only winning 3 Championship games. In 2012 James led Down to their first League Semi-final in 22 years where they played

. It was a close game but Cork won 2–17 to 1-12. McCartan led Down to their first

final since 2003 coming back from 0–11 to 0–02 to win by 1–14 to 1-13. In July 2014 McCartan stepped down as boss after 5 years in charge.

Playing honours

Inter-county

(2) 1991 1994 *

(2) 1991 1994 * National Football League Division 3 (1) 1997 *

(1) 1987 *

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 ...

(2) 1986 1987

Province

* 4

s 1991 1993 1994 1995

School/college

* 2

s 1990 1993 * 2

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The winn ...

s 1986 1988 * 2

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 ...

s 1986 1988

Club

* 1

London Senior Football Championship The London Senior Football Championship is a Gaelic Athletic Association cup competition between the top Gaelic football clubs in London, England. The London GAA, London Football championship began in 1897 with Ireland United winning the first ti ...

1990

Individual

* 2

s 1990 1994 * 1

Final Man of the Match 1991

Manager

* 1 Inter-County

Runner-Up

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 ...

* 1 Inter-County

Runner-Up

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 ...

* 2 Ryan Cups 2006 2007 * 1 Sigerson Cup 2007 * 1 Down Senior Football League 2006

References

External links

Interview with ''Hogan Stand'' magazine

Official Down GAA website

Down star apologises for his behaviour during loyalist parade
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCartan, James Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Burren Gaelic footballers Coaches of Gaelic football teams at Irish universities Down inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football forwards Gaelic football managers Irish international rules football players Queen's University Belfast Gaelic footballers Tír Chonaill Gaels Gaelic footballers Tullylish Gaelic footballers Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)