Ruairí Canavan (born 2003) is a

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 Errigal Ciarán and the Tyrone county team. His father,

Peter Canavan Peter Canavan (born 9 April 1971) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer, manager and pundit. He played inter-county football for Tyrone, and is one of the most decorated players in the game's history, winning two All-Ireland Senior Football C ...

, is a former All-Ireland winning captain with Tyrone, and his brother Darragh is also an inter-county footballer.

Playing career

University

In his studies at

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

, Canavan established himself on their senior football team. Ulster faced UCD in the final of the

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 ...

on 14 February 2024. Canavan kicked four points Ulster won the cup for the first time in sixteen years.

Club

Canavan made his

Tyrone Senior Football Championship The Tyrone Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Connollys of Moy'' ''Tyrone Senior Football Championship'') is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Tyrone GAA clubs. The Tyrone County Boar ...

debut on 10 October 2021. He scored five points from the bench in a twelve-point win over

Clonoe Clonoe () is a small village and a civil parish in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It includes O'Rahilly Park where the Clonoe O'Rahillys Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club play their home games. It was the scene of the Clonoe ambush in 199 ...

. On 30 October 2022, Canavan played in his first county final, with Errigal Ciarán facing

Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and O ...

. Errigal won the match by 2–11 to 1–12, with Canavan scoring two points. Errigal Ciarán reached the county final again in 2023, this time against

Trillick Trillick () is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 2,439 people in the 2011 census. Trillick is in the civil parish of Kilskeery and the barony of Omagh East. It is located within both the Roman Catholic ...

. Canavan scored a point from a free, but Trillick won the final by three points after extra-time. The two sides met in the county final for the second year in a row in 2024. Canavan top-scored with six points to help Errigal to a 0–12 to 1–8 win. Canavan also received the man of the match award, as well as finishing as the championship's top scorer. Errigal went on to reach the final of the

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament organised by Ulster GAA. It is played between the Senior championship winners from each of the nine counties of Ulster. The competition was first held in 1968 an ...

, with Canavan kicking nine points in the semi-final against Clann Éireann. Errigal went on to win the final, beating Kilcoo by a point to win the championship for the first time since 2002.

Inter-county

Minor and under-20

On 14 July 2019, the Tyrone minor team faced

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

in the Ulster final. Canavan came on as a second-half substitute as Monaghan won the match by two points. On 22 April 2022, Canavan was in the half-forward line as the Tyrone under-20 team faced

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

in the Ulster final. Canavan kicked seven points from placed balls, including a sideline. Tyrone held on to win the match by 0–11 to 0–10, with Canavan being named man of the match. Canavan put in another man of the match performance on 8 May, scoring 0–8 in the All-Ireland semi-final win over Kerry. On 14 May Tyrone faced

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

in the All-Ireland final. Canavan was once again the hero, scoring 1–7 as Tyrone were crowned All-Ireland champions with a six-point win. Canavan was named

U20 Footballer of the Year The EirGrid U20 Footballer of the year, (previously known as the Cadbury's Hero of the Future) is a Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of footb ...

for his performances in the championship. Canavan was named captain of the under-20 team for the 2023 season. Tyrone suffered an early championship exit, losing to Down in the first round.

Senior

Canavan joined the Tyrone senior panel after the All-Ireland Under-20 win in May 2022. On 19 February 2023, Canavan made his

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 ...

debut as a late sub in a loss to

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. Canavan scored his first point for Tyrone the next week, as Tyrone suffered a heavy loss to Mayo. Canavan made his senior championship debut on 16 April, coming on as a late substitute in an Ulster quarter-final loss to Monaghan. Canavan's first start was on 18 June, scoring three points in a draw against . In the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final against , Canavan scored his first goal, finishing with 1–1 in an eight-point win for Tyrone. Kerry ended Tyrone's season at the quarter-final stage.

Honours

Tyrone * All-Ireland Under-20 Football Championship:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Ulster Under-20 Football Championship The Ulster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Ulster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest in ...

: 2022 Errigal Ciarán *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Ulster University *

: 2024 Individual * ''Eirgrid'' Under-20 Footballer of the Year: 2022 * ''Eirgrid'' 20 Under-20 Award: 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canavan, Ruairí 2003 births Living people Tyrone inter-county Gaelic footballers Errigal Ciarán Gaelic footballers 21st-century Irish sportsmen