Sean Ferriter

Sean Ferriter

Personal information
Sport	Gaelic football
Born	(1938-09-15) 15 September 1938 (age 86)
Occupation	Garda[1] Solicitor[1]
Club(s)
Years	Club
19??–?	St Eunan's
Club titles
Donegal titles	3
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1957–19??	Donegal

Sean Ferriter (born 15 September 1938)[2] is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for St Eunan's and the Donegal county team.[3] His position was in midfield (though he did play as a goalkeeper for his school).[2]

Early life and education

Born in Milford, County Donegal, his parents were Garda Morgan (from West Kerry) and Tess (from Baltray in County Louth).[2] He was one of six children: four sons and two daughters.[2] He attended Dunfanaghy National School for his primary education.[2] For his secondary education, Ferriter attended St Eunan's College as a boarder, playing for the school team (as a goalkeeper) and being greatly influenced by John Wilson, the Gaelic footballer and future Tánaiste who was teaching there at that time.[2][4]

Playing career

Ferriter played for the Donegal team that won the 1956 Ulster Minor Football Championship.[2] He made his senior debut for Donegal in 1957 against Tyrone at the age of 18.[2]

He captained the Donegal team that overcame Cavan in the 1963 Ulster Senior Football Championship semi-final, thus earning his team a place in the final for the first time.[2]

He played for Donegal in the 1964–65 National Football League semi-final against Kerry.[5]

He won three Donegal Senior Football Championships with his club St Eunan's.[2] He also played for Ulster in the Railway Cup,[6] with whom he won two titles.[2]

Retirement

A former Garda, Ferriter served for a time in Dublin.[1] His experience of Dublin proved invaluable to Brian McEniff when Donegal qualified for the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final — against Dublin.[2]

Ferriter later studied law and qualified as a solicitor, practising in the Dublin suburb of Blanchardstown.[1]

He met his wife Mary, originally from Thurles, while she was working as a civil servant in Dublin (where Ferriter was at the time based as a Garda); she predeceased him.[2] He has eight children.[2] One of his sons, Paul, is a sculptor.[1]

Accolades

In 2001, the Donegal Democrat included Ferriter in a Millennium Team.[2]

In May 2012, the Irish Independent named him in its selection of Donegal's "greatest team" spanning the previous 50 years.[7]

In 2020, he was announced as the 44th inductee into the Donegal Sports Star Awards Hall of Fame Award.[2]

References

1. Gilleece, Dermot (18 January 2009). "A portrait of the artist: Irish sculptor Paul Ferriter is carving a niche for himself in the world of golf". Sunday Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 18 January 2009. In an earlier life, I reported on Sean Ferriter playing Gaelic football for Donegal. His son's early sporting memories, however, were all about golf... Born in Letterkenny in December 1967, Paul Ferriter moved as a boy to Dublin where his father was transferred as a member of An Garda Siochana. Now the father is a solicitor in Blanchardstown, having gone back to college to study law.
2. "Hall of Fame Honour for Sean Ferriter". Highland Radio. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
3. "Outstanding Long Serving County Stars". Naomh Adhamhnáin. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015.
4. "College Gaelic Team 1956 - 1957". 30 May 2019. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
5. "Back in time...". Clár Oifigiúil: Quarter-Final Group Stage, Group 2 Phase 2 (i.e. the Kerry match). 21 July 2019. p. 35.
6. McNulty, Chris (25 November 2016). "Sean Ferriter pays tribute to the late Joe Lennon, 'a formidable opponent'". Retrieved 25 November 2016.
7. "GAA: Donegal's greatest team of the past 50 years named". Donegal Daily. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2021.