Paul McKillen (born June 1966) is a Northern Irish

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 ...

manager and former player. At club level he played with McQuillan Ballycastle and at inter-county level with the

Antrim senior hurling team The Antrim county hurling team represents Antrim GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of hurling. The team competes in the Joe McDonagh Cup and the National Hurling League. It also contests the Ulster Se ...

Playing career

McKillen first played hurling with the McQuillan Ballycastle club. He was still eligible for the minor grade when he won his first Antrim SHC medal after a defeat of

Loughgiel Shamrocks Loughgiel Shamrocks GAC is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in the village of Loughgiel/ Loughguile in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They are currently the only club in Ulster to have won an All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Champions ...

in 1983. McKillen won a second title a year later when McQuillan's retained the title, before claiming a third and final winners' medal in 1986. Each of these three victories were subsequently converted into Ulster Club SHC title successes. At inter-county level, McQuillan first appeared for Antrim at underage levels, however, his

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 ...

and under-21 tenures ended without any title success. McKillen made his senior team debut in 1984 and went on to win seven Ulster SHC titles in a ten-year period between 1989 and his retirement in 1998. He also lined out at midfield when Tipperary beat Antrim by 4-24 to 3-09 tin the 1989 All-Ireland final. McKillen's other inter-county honours include a National League Division 2 medal. He also earned inclusion on the

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 ...

team in 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 ...

competition. McKillen was an All-Star Award recipient in 1993.

Management career

McKillen first became involved in coaching as a result of his day job as a caretaker at Cross & Passion College. He has served as a coach and selector with various college teams and was part of four

Mageean Cup The Mageean Cup is awarded annually to the winners of the Ulster Colleges' Senior Hurling Championship. This iconic trophy was presented to Ulster Colleges in 1963 by the staff and students of Dromantine College, Newry in memory of Most Revere ...

-winning management teams. McKillen later became involved in inter-county management as a selector with the Antrim senior hurling team that won the

2006 Christy Ring Cup The 2006 Christy Ring Cup is the second edition of the Christy Ring Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005 and is the second-tier of Hurling for senior county teams (the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is ...

after a defeat of

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

in the final. McKillen later served as a coach with the Down senior hurling team that lost the 2009 Christy Ring Cup final to Carlow. He later guided the Antrim minor hurling team to the Ulster MHC title in 2014. A stint as manager of the St Mary's, Rasharkin club team was followed by McKillen becoming joint-manager of the Antrim intermediate

camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

team. He guided the team to the All-Ireland ICH title in 2021.

Honours

Player

;McQuillan Ballycastle *

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 ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Antrim Senior Hurling Championship The Antrim Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bathshack.com Antrim Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Antrim SHC) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Antrim GAA, Antrim County B ...

: 1983, 1984, 1986 ;Antrim *

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 ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

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 ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

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 ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

* National Hurling League Division 2: 1991–92

Management

;Cross & Passion College *

: 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2020 ;Antrim *

Christy Ring Cup The Christy Ring Cup () is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The cup forms the third-tier of Hurling for senior county teams (the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is the first-tier trophy). It is ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship is a competition in the women's field sport of camogie for second-tier county teams and for second-string teams of first-tier counties. If the winning team comes from a second-tier county, that co ...

: 2021 *

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 ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKillen, Paul 1966 births Living people Ballycastle McQuillan hurlers Antrim inter-county hurlers Ulster inter-provincial hurlers Hurling selectors Hurling managers Camogie managers