Brian Canavan (born 1956/1957)[1] is an Irish Gaelic footballer and manager. He played as a wing-back.[2]

Career

Canavan joined the inter-county competition in 1978, shortly after many of his teammates had contested the 1977 All-Ireland SFC Final.[3] He played inter-county for 14 years, winning two Ulster Senior Football Championship (SFC) titles.[1][3] Canavan ended his inter-county playing days in 1990, saying "I was marking a young fella called Declan Bonner and I could see at times that he was a wee bit sharper than I was and I knew rightly that the next year, he'd be getting a bit quicker and I'd be getting a bit slower, so I had a good innings and I thought it was time to move on".[1] Also during his playing days, he featured on the Ulster University and Ulster Railway Cup teams.[3]

Canavan played his club football for Redmond O'Hanlon's in Poyntzpass and he won a Junior Championship with them in 1997 when he was 40.[1] He also took up refereeing.[1]

From 1995 to 2001, Canavan helped manage his county team alongside Brian McAlinden.[4] Cananavan agreed only to take on the role if McAlinden would join him, and they became known as the "Two Brians".[5] The story of the Two Brians was documented in Kings for a Day by Niall McCoy.[6] Canavan helped manage the team to successive Ulster SFC titles in 1999 and 2000.[3] With the first of those wins, in 1999, Canavan and McAlinden became the first people to win Ulster SFC titles with their county as both player and manager.[1] Canavan and McAlinden resigned in August 2001.[7]

Canavan played in two All-Ireland SFC semi-finals and managed teams for three All-Ireland SFC semi-finals; however he neither played in nor managed a team in an All-Ireland SFC final.[1]

Personal life

In 2000, Canavan was appointed as full time Community Games Development Officer in Armagh and Louth after getting an injection of 170,000 Irish Pounds.[8] His uncle, Tom Canavan, was previously an SDLP Mayor of Armagh.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "My GAA Life with… Brian Canavan". Gaelic Life. 19 March 2020.
  2. ↑ "Canavan back in big time: On a drizzly July day in Clones, nearly eight years ago, Donegal beat Armagh in the Ulster football final". The Irish Times. 27 June 1998.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Watters, Andy (9 April 2020). "Brian Canavan selects his Allstar side from the men he played with or managed". The Irish News.
  4. ↑ Loughran, Neil (9 June 2017). "Where are they now? Former Armagh goalkeeper and joint manager Brian McAlinden looks back on his career with the Orchardmen". The Irish News.
  5. ↑ Watters, Andy (4 December 2021). "My county: Brian McAlinden reflects on days of triumph and disappointment with Armagh". The Irish News.
  6. ↑ Tierney, Paddy (21 September 2022). "Diarmaid Marsden red card revisited in new book charting Armagh's quest for Sam". BelfastLive.
  7. ↑ "Armagh bosses stand down". BBC. 4 August 2001.
  8. ↑ "Armagh boss, Canavan, heads up promotion of Community Games movement in Louth". Independent.ie. 18 February 2000.
  9. ↑ "Canavan, Tom". Hogan Stand. 22 June 2006.
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