Niall Carolan (born 18 April 2002) 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 ...

er who plays for Cuchulainns and the Cavan county team.

Playing career

Club

Carolan joined the Cuchulainns at a young age and joined the club's senior team in 2020.

Inter-county

Minor and under-20

Carolan was captain of the Cavan under-20 team for the 2022 season. On 22 April, Carolan was in the half-back line as Cavan faced Tyrone in the Ulster final. Tyrone came out winners on a 0–11 to 0–10 scoreline.

Senior

Carolan joined the Cavan senior squad in 2022 after the Ulster under-20 final loss. On 28 May, Carolan made his senior debut in a first round

Tailteann Cup The Tailteann Cup is a Gaelic football competition held annually since 2022 and organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is contested by those county teams, which, in the given year, have not otherwise qualified for the All-Ireland ...

win over Down, scoring a point as a second half substitute. Carolan made his first senior start in the quarter-final win over

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh (), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of alleged Laigin or ...

on 5 June. Cavan went on to face

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

on 9 July. Carolan started the game, with Westmeath coming out winners by four points. On 1 April 2023, Carolan was at corner back as Cavan faced Fermanagh 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 ...

Division 3 final. Cavan won the match by 0–16 to 1–7.

Honours

Cavan * National Football League Division 3:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

2002 births Living people

Niall Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''). According to John Ryan, Professor of Early and ...

Cavan inter-county Gaelic footballers Cúchulainn's (Cavan) Gaelic footballers 21st-century Irish sportsmen {{Cavan-Gaelic-football-bio-stub