Michael "Mick" McGinley (born 1940) is an Irish 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 ...

er who played for St Eunan's and the Donegal county team.

Career

McGinley attended

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 ...

, where he played for the school team and was part of the 1956

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 ...

-winning team. He also won a Rannafast Cup with the College in 1956. He won an

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 ...

title with Donegal in 1956. He played for the Donegal county team at a senior level between 1959 and 1961. At this time McGinley joined the

British Merchant Navy The British Merchant Navy is the collective name given to British civilian ships and their associated crews, including officers and ratings. In the UK, it is simply referred to as the Merchant Navy or MN. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensi ...

. He worked in telecommunications. Sigma Wireless is the name of his telecommunications company. McGinley is a business partner of Tony Boyle, who co-owns Persona, which has been involved in a lawsuit against Ireland. Persona lost out to the

Esat Digifone Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 199 ...

consortium of

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for several years. His bus ...

in 1995, a series of events which was later detailed during the

Moriarty Tribunal The Moriarty Tribunal, officially called the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, was an Irish Tribunal of Inquiry established in 1997 into the financial affairs of politicians Charles Haughey and Mich ...

. Though Persona is dormant, as of 2023, McGinley and his family continue to provide additional equity for the company. McGinley introduced

Dermot Desmond Dermot Desmond (born 14 August 1950) is an Irish businessman and financier. He is estimated to be worth €2.04 billion and is ranked by the '' Sunday Independent'' as the ninth-richest person in Ireland. Early life and education Desmond was ...

and

Jim McGuinness Jim McGuinness (born 16 November 1972) is a Gaelic football coach, and former player, who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as a player with, and later manager of, the Donegal county team. Since 2023, he has been manager, for ...

to each other.

Personal life

McGinley is from

Dunfanaghy Dunfanaghy () is a small town, former fishing port, and commercial centre on the north coast of County Donegal, Ireland. It lies on Donegal's North West coast, specifically the west side of Sheephaven Bay, on the N56 road (the West Donegal Coas ...

. Married to Julia from

Rathmullan Rathmullan () is a seaside village and townland on the Fanad Peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland. It is situated on the western shore of Lough Swilly, north-east of Ramelton and east of Milford. Rathmullan was the point of departure duri ...

, the couple live in

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...

. Their son,

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, is a professional golfer. The couple also have a daughter who is a

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

. McGinley has played in amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournaments in Ireland, Spain and Portugal. One day, after having often experienced pains in his chest, he had a minor

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on the golf course.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGinley, Mick 1940 births Living people British Merchant Navy personnel Businesspeople from County Donegal Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers People educated at St Eunan's College 20th-century Irish businesspeople 21st-century Irish businesspeople