The Ulster Council (Irish: Comhairle Uladh) is a provincial council of the Gaelic Athletic Association sports of hurling, Gaelic football, camogie, and handball in the province of Ulster. The headquarters of the Ulster GAA is based in the city of Armagh.

Ulster GAA
Irish:Cúige Uladh
Location:Ulster
Number of counties:9
Province colours:  Gold   Black
Major grounds:Casement Park, Belfast
St Tiernach's Park, Clones
Most All-Ireland titles
Hurling:None
Football:Down and Cavan (5 each)
Most provincial titles
Hurling:Antrim (48)
Football:Cavan (40)
Interprovincial Championship wins
Hurling:0
Football:28
Standard kit
Regular kit

The first Ulster GAA Convention was held on 22 March 1903 in Armagh. Belfast solicitor George Martin was elected as first president with L. F. O'Kane (Derry) as first secretary. Victor O'Nolan (Tyrone), the father of writer Flann O'Brien, was elected vice-president. Danny Murphy (Down) has been Ulster Council secretary and chief executive officer since 1998. Murphy is a former vice president of the GAA and president of Ulster GAA. On 4 July 2012, Murphy was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for Services to Sport and Community Relations.[1]

County boards

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Football

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Provincial team

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The Ulster provincial football team represents the province of Ulster in Gaelic football. The team competes in the Railway Cup.

Players

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Players from the following county teams represent Ulster: Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone.

Competitions

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Inter-county

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Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition
Ulster Senior Football Championship 2022   Derry 8th   Donegal 2023
Dr McKenna Cup 2022   Monaghan 15th   Donegal 2023
Ulster Junior Football Championship 1986   Tyrone 3rd   Monaghan TBD
Ulster Under-20 Football Championship 2022   Tyrone 15th   Cavan 2023
Ulster Minor Football Championship 2022   Tyrone 25th   Derry 2023
Dr Lagan Cup 1967   Donegal 4th TBD

Club

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Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition
Ulster Senior Club Football Championship 2022 Glen 1st Kilcoo 2023
Ulster Intermediate Club Football Championship 2021 Steelstown 1st Moortown 2022
Ulster Junior Club Football Championship 2022 Stewartstown Harps 2nd Drumlane 2023
Ulster Under-21 Club Football Championship
Ulster Minor Club Football Championship 2019 Lavey 1st Termon TBD
Ulster Senior Club Football League 2016 Glenullin 3rd Coalisland TBD

All-time top scorers from Ulster county teams

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As of 3 June 2008 according to the BBC.[2]

Rank Player County team Tally Total score Championship years
1 Oisín McConville Armagh 11–197
230
1997–
2 Peter Canavan Tyrone 9–192
218
1989–2005
3 Paddy Bradley Derry 13–170
209
2000–2012
4 Paddy Doherty Down 15–159
204
1954–1971
5 Peter Donohoe Cavan 17–133
184
1945–1955
6 Seán O'Neill Down 17–125
176
1959–1975
7 Charlie Gallagher Cavan 10–142
172
?–?
8 Steven McDonnell Armagh 15–111
156
2000–
9 Seán O'Connell Derry 11–118
151
1957–1975
10 Ronan Carolan Cavan 2–138
144
?–?
Notes
  • Includes Ulster Championship, All-Ireland Championship and Qualifiers.

All-time top goalscorers from Ulster county teams

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As of 15 June 2008, according to the Sunday Tribune.[3]

Rank Player County team Number of goals Championship years
1 Steven McDonnell Armagh
17
2000–2012
Peter Donohoe Cavan 1945–1955
Seán O'Neill Down 1959–1975
4 Paddy Doherty Down
15
1954–1971
5 Paddy Bradley Derry
13
2000–
Ger Houlahan Armagh 1984–2000
James McCartan Snr Down 1958–1967
Brendan Coulter Down 2000–2015
9 Joe Stafford Cavan
12
1943–1949
Enda Muldoon Derry 1997–
Jason Reilly Cavan 1997–
12 Seán O'Connell Derry
11
1957–1975
P. T. Treacy Fermanagh 1960–1973
Oisín McConville Armagh 1997–2008

Notes:

  • Includes Ulster Championship, All-Ireland Championship and Qualifiers.

Hurling

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Provincial team

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The Ulster provincial hurling team represents the province of Ulster in hurling. The team competes in the Railway Cup.

Players

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Competitions

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Inter-county

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Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition
Ulster Senior Hurling Championship 2017   Antrim 57th   Down TBD
Ulster Senior Hurling Shield 2017   Derry 1st   Tyrone TBD
Conor McGurk Cup 2022   Down 2nd   Donegal 2023
Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship 1998   Down 4th   London TBD
Ulster Junior Hurling Championship 2004   Down 8th   Fermanagh TBD
Ulster Under-21 Hurling Championship 2017   Derry 6th   Down TBD
Ulster Minor Hurling Championship 2017   Antrim 59th   Derry TBD
 
Antrim's Arron Graffin (right) representing Ulster in the 2008 Railway Cup hurling semi-final against Munster

Ulster has always been the weakest of the provinces in hurling terms, possibly due to the difference between the hurling promulgated by the early Gaelic Athletic Association and the "commons" game played in Ulster. The Ulster hurling team have only won four Railway Cup semi-final games in their history (1945, 1992, 1993 and 1995),[4] it, however, lost in each of those Railway Cup deciders.[4]

There have been some successes over the years, mostly by Antrim teams:

Club

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"Team Ulster" in the Liam MacCarthy Cup

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In 2020, a concept was discussed among players and managers, with a proposal that a combined "Team Ulster" would compete in the Liam MacCarthy Cup.[5][6][7][8]

Grades

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Championship County team
Senior
Leinster SHC   Antrim
Joe McDonagh Cup   Down
Christy Ring Cup   Derry
  Tyrone
Nicky Rackard Cup   Armagh
  Donegal
  Fermanagh
Lory Meagher Cup   Cavan
  Monaghan

Camogie

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Gael Linn Cup

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The Ulster camogie team has twice won the premier representative competition in the women's team field sport of camogie, the Gael Linn Cup, in 1967 and 2007.

Gael Linn Trophy

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The Ulster provincial junior camogie team won the Gael Linn Trophy on eight occasions: 1979, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1998, 2000 and 2002.

Honours

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  • Disability Sport NI's Inclusive Sport Award: 2021[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Ulster GAA Milestones". Archived from the original on 10 August 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2007.
  2. ^ "Ulster's hot-shots". BBC Online. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2008.
  3. ^ Shannon, Kieran; Leo McGeough (15 June 2008). "When Sunday Comes - Stevie from Killeavy: Ulster's top predator". Sunday Tribune.
  4. ^ a b Martin, John (24 October 2008). "Ulster up against it". Gaelic Life. p. 43.
  5. ^ "Down manager calls for a combined Ulster hurling team". RTÉ Sport. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Video: eleven top hurling people discuss the Team Ulster proposal". Hogan Stand. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  7. ^ "'We have to do something - we're standing still' - Players and managers support idea of Ulster hurling team". RTÉ Sport. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Video: Highlighting the merits or otherwise of a 'Team Ulster' hurling initiative". The Irish News. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Ulster GAA awarded Disability Sport NI's Inclusive Sport Award". Hogan Stand. 26 January 2021.
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