Stephen McMenamin (born 1997/8) 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 Red Hughs and the Donegal county team.

Playing career

County senior manager

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as "Ireland's first rock star", he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometim ...

called McMenamin up ahead of the 2016 season as one of twelve new recruits, alongside such players as Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Caolan McGonagle and Ciarán Thompson. Under the management of

Declan Bonner Declan Bonner (born 11 August 1965) is an Irish Gaelic footballer and manager. He played at senior level for the Donegal county team, winning an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title in 1992. He later managed the Donegal county team ...

, McMenamin started the opening fixture of the 2018 National Football League against Kerry in

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

. He also started the next game against

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 ...

. He also started the fourth and fifth games, against

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 ...

and Tyrone respectively. McMenamin started the

2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2018 Ulster Senior Football Championship was the 130th instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. T ...

final as Donegal defeated

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 ...

. He had previously started the preliminary round against

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 ( ...

, and made substitute appearances in the quarter-final against

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

and the semi-final against

Down Down most often refers to: * Down, the relative direction opposed to up * Down (gridiron football), in North American/gridiron football, a period when one play takes place * Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing * Downland ...

, scoring a point in the semi-final. McMenamin made a late substitute appearance against

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

in the opening fixture of the 2019 National Football League in

Ennis Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...

. He made a substitute appearance in the next fixture against

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 ...

. He started the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh fixtures against Tipperary, Fermanagh,

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

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 * ...

and Kildare. Donegal qualified for the National Football League Division 2 final and McMenamin started the game as Donegal defeated Meath to win the title. McMenamin started each game of the

2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2019 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 131st instalment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Th ...

and scored a point in the semi-final, as Donegal defeated Fermanagh in the quarter-final, Tyrone in the semi-final and Cavan in the final. An unsavoury incident during the 2019 semi-final led to McMenamin being assaulted by Tyrone player

Tiernan McCann Tiernan McCann (born 24 May 1991) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for the Killyclogher St Mary's club and formerly of the Tyrone county team. In the 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship victory over Monaghan on 8 August at Croke Pa ...

. The assault took the form of an act of

fish-hooking Fish-hooking is the act of inserting a finger or fingers of one or both hands into the mouth, nostrils or other orifices of a person, and pulling away from the centerline of the body; in most cases with the intention of pulling, tearing, or la ...

. McMenamin's sight was affected by the incident. McCann put his hands into McMenamin's mouth and then stamped on his neck; analysts on ''

The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1 ...

'', such as

Tomás Ó Sé Tomás Ó Sé (; born 21 June 1978) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer. He played Gaelic football with Nemo Rangers GAA, Nemo Rangers and at senior level for the Kerry county football team, Kerry county team from 1998 until he retired in 2013 ...

and

Ciarán Whelan Ciarán Whelan (born 28 February 1976 in Raheny, County Dublin) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for the Raheny club and, formerly, for the Dublin county team. He is right-footed but can kick with both feet and usually plays in midfield. He was ...

, described the assault on McMenamin as "despicable" and "disgusting". McCann was given a two-match ban. McMenamin did not feature in any of Donegal's first five fixtures of the 2020 National Football League against Mayo, Meath, Galway,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and

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 ...

. Then the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

brought play to a halt. Play resumed

behind closed doors Behind Closed Doors may refer to: Film, television and radio Film * ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli * Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...

on 18 October with a home game against Tyrone; McMenamin started that game and scored three points. He also started the last league game away to Kerry. McMenamin started and completed the

2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2020 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 132nd installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. ...

quarter-final victory against Tyrone, the following week. He then exited the semi-final victory against Armagh in the opening minutes with a

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injury and, consequently, missed the final. McMenamin did not feature in Donegal's first of four fixtures of the 2021 National Football League, against Tyrone, made a substitute appearance against Monaghan and started the last two games, against Armagh and Dublin. In the

2021 Ulster Senior Football Championship The 2021 Ulster Senior Football Championship is the 133rd installment of the annual Ulster Senior Football Championship organised by Ulster GAA. It is one of the four provincial competitions of the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. ...

, he started the first and second of Donegal's three fixtures against Down in the opening round and against Derry in the quarter-final, before making an early substitute appearance for the injured

Neil McGee Neil McGee (born 13 November 1985) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Gaoth Dobhair and, formerly, both the Donegal county team and the Ireland international rules football team. From Gweedore in County Donegal, he won three All Stars ...

against Tyrone in the semi-final.

Honours

;Player *

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, 2025 * National Football League Division 2:

;Individual *

All Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

: 0 **Nominated in 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMenamin, Stephen 1990s births Living people Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs