Justin McNulty MLA (born 15 November 1974) is an Irish

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) politician, a former

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, and a former player at senior level for the Armagh county team. He has sat in the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = ...

since 2016 as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) for Newry and Armagh. McNulty played football for the Mullaghbawn Cúchullain's club in Armagh and also played at senior level for the Armagh county team from 1995 to 2005. He won an

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

(SFC) medal in 2002 while playing in the full-back position.

Sporting career

The Lislea-born, McNulty played for Mullaghbawn alongside his twin brother Paul and their younger brother, Enda. Justin made his senior inter-county debut for

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , " Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

in 1995 in a league game against Louth. He won 5 Ulster SFC medals and won an All-Ireland SFC medal when Armagh defeated Kerry by a scoreline of 1–12 to 0–14 in the

2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 115th All-Ireland Final and showpiece game of the 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship which began on 5 May 2002. It took place at Croke Park on 22 September 2002. The g ...

. In 2005 McNulty retired from inter-county football. Management followed soon after and Justin led Mullahoran Dreadnoughts of Cavan to a Senior Championship in 2006. The following year Justin managed

St Brigid's GAA (Dublin) St Brigid's GAA Club (Irish: Cumann Naomh Bríd) is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Castleknock, Fingal, Ireland which serves Castleknock, Clonsilla, Blanchardstown and Corduff. Its main grounds are at Russell Park, and it als ...

, who was narrowly beaten in the 2007 Dublin County Final by St Vincent's who went on to win the All Ireland. In late 2009 he was appointed as an Armagh selector under the management of Paddy O'Rourke. In August 2010, after Seán Dempsey resigned as

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 ...

manager, McNulty was appointed as his successor. McNulty's first season proved a success as Laois gained promotion to the top tier of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

, despite losing the league decider to Donegal. McNulty left Laois in August 2013.

Political career

McNulty contested his home constituency of Newry and Armagh for the SDLP in the 2015 general election. Despite losing to

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

candidate Mickey Brady, McNulty polled 12,026 votes, a 24.1% share which represented a 1500 vote increase on the previous election. McNulty was elected to the 6th Northern Irish Assembly on 3 March 2017 for the SDLP. In the General election of 2017, McNulty saw his share of the vote drop to 16.9% Newry and Armagh with his Sinn Féin rivals vote increasing by 6.8%.In the Assesembly election of May 2022, McNulty's vote share fell further to 10.8%. The impact of independent candidate Gavin Malone standing in the election, appears to have both candidates fighting for the same share of the vote in the Newry area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNulty, Justin 1974 births Living people Armagh county football team Armagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs Gaelic football managers Gaelic football selectors Irish sportsperson-politicians Mullaghbawn Gaelic footballers Politicians from County Armagh Sportspeople from County Armagh Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football)