Senan Connell 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 played for the Na Fianna club on Dublin's Northside and for the Dublin county team.

Career

Senan operated in the half forward line for Dublin. He made his debut for Dublin in a national league match in 1998 against

Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain ...

kicking two points. He cemented his place on the team before a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

injury forced him to miss the league final versus Cork in 1999. Senan played at half forward in both the 2000 Leinster final loss to

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

and the 2001 Leinster final loss to Kildare under Tommy Carr. In 2002 Senan was again in the half forward line as Dublin had a breakthrough year beating Wexford, Meath and Kildare as they were crowned Leinster champions with Senan kicking two points in the final. Dublin were eventually undone in the 2002 All Ireland semi-final by eventual champions Armagh with Connell again kicking 2 points. Connell was a mainstay of the Lyons era, kicking five points against Kerry in the 2004 quarter-final loss, Lyons's last game in charge. Connell won two more Leinster titles during the Caffrey reign, in 2005 and 2006, operating mostly as an impact sub before retiring from inter-county football at the age of 32, following the crushing 2006 All Ireland semi-final loss to Mayo. Connell won the Dublin football championship with his club Na Fianna in 1999 against St Brigid's and went on to win the Leinster Club football championship only to be eventually defeated in the All-Ireland club final against

Crossmaglen Rangers Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic Athletic Club () is a GAA club in Crossmaglen, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They cater for Gaelic football and camogie. Their home football ground is St. Oliver Plunkett Park, which was opened in 1959. In 1971 the ...

of Armagh. He won two more Dublin senior football championship medals with Na Fianna in 2000 (v

Kilmacud Crokes Kilmacud Crokes () is a large Gaelic Athletic Association club located in Stillorgan, Dublin, Ireland. Background Kilmacud GAA club was formed in 1959 following a public meeting in Saint Laurence's Hall, where Stillorgan shopping centre no ...

) and 2001 (v St Brigids) and Na Fianna made it to both Leinster Finals. Connell won the Man of the Match award in the 2001 final. His club pedigree was recognised with 5 Dub Star awards at wing back, centre forward and wing forward. Connell won the Player of the Tournament award in the 2003 All Ireland Kilmacud 7's on a day when Na Fianna were narrowly defeated by

Aghada Aghada () is a village and civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. It is situated on the eastern side of Cork Harbour, around 12 km by road south of Midleton. The civil parish of Aghada consists of several small villages and townlands inclu ...

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

in the final. Connell still plays club football in the capital with Na Fianna and won a Dublin Senior League medal in 2012 beating St Sylvesters in the final.

Club honours

*Dublin Championship 2001,2000,1999 *Leinster Runner-up 2000 *Leinster Championships 1999 *All Ireland Runners Up 1999

County honours

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

2006 *Leinster Senior Football Championship 2005 *Leinster Senior Football Championship 2002

Personal life

As of 2004, Connell was working as a schoolteacher while playing for

Dublin GAA The Dublin County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Dublin GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Dublin and the Dublin county teams. The teams and their fans a ...

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Na Fianna Gaelic footballers People educated at St Declan's College, Dublin {{Dublin-gaelic-football-bio-stub