Best / distinguished Minor Footballers of all time

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Dermot McNicholl. Played minor for 5 years.

He played in five consecutive MacRory Cup finals (1980–1984), winning four of them. He was captain for the last two. (Only one of two men to do that, Greg Blaney's father, Sean, was the other one) He was only in third year when playing on his first MacRory team. In 1980 and 1984 he was runner-up in the Hogan Cup to Carmelite College, Moate and St. Jarlath's College, Tuam respectively.

He won 3 Ulster Minor Football Championships ('80, '81, '83), played in the All-Ireland final each of the three times - winning in '83, as captain.

He won Ulster U-21 in '83, but lost the AI U21 after a replay.

As an aside, though he wasn't still a minor (bad birthday), he won an all star (still youngest ever), played senior inter county and represented Ireland in the International Rules, while still at school.

He was (pre-)equalled as the youngest All-Star by another Derry man, ironically enough, Gerry Mc Elhinney.

[Maroon Manc]

Dermot McNicholl. Played minor for 5 years.

for Derry for 5 years?

[rosnarun]

this is one are stats dont tell the whole truth  if derry had to play a 14? at minor it probably says more about th dery setup than mcNicholl.
another way of judging it is players who played senior on the same day like Benny coulter or paddy McBrearty and indeed Wille joe padden( and a few more)

the best minor player i have seen was Kyle coney Tyrone. looked a dead cert to be a superstar but it just didnt really happen for him

[imtommygunn]

I am not sure. Johnny McBride played at 14 too I think but also Des Mackin for Armagh and I think they got to a minor final that year?

There are some boys who can just be a massive size at 14.

I would say Paddy McKeever for Armagh probably played at similar age. They just were good enough at that age.

[Mike Tyson]

this is one are stats dont tell the whole truth  if derry had to play a 14? at minor it probably says more about th dery setup than mcNicholl.
another way of judging it is players who played senior on the same day like Benny coulter or paddy McBrearty and indeed Wille joe padden( and a few more)

the best minor player i have seen was Kyle coney Tyrone. looked a dead cert to be a superstar but it just didnt really happen for him

It probably says more about their senior setup than those players...

edit: Just reading that in his first year with Derry minors when he was 14, they won the Ulster championship & reached the all ireland final. Says a lot about the Derry setup alright.

[Keyser soze]

this is one are stats dont tell the whole truth  if derry had to play a 14? at minor it probably says more about th dery setup than mcNicholl.
another way of judging it is players who played senior on the same day like Benny coulter or paddy McBrearty and indeed Wille joe padden( and a few more)

the best minor player i have seen was Kyle coney Tyrone. looked a dead cert to be a superstar but it just didnt really happen for him

Derry got to 3 AI minor finals 80,81 and 83 winning the latter with DMcN as captain so I would say they had a fairly good setup at that time and for a 14 year old to be part of that also says a whole lot about how good he was.

Or maybe playing for Ireland at 19 and getting an allstar at the same age says more about the Ireland and and Allstar setups than it does about McNicholl also. 

[laoislad]

Beano McDonald.

[bigarsedkeeper]

this is one are stats dont tell the whole truth  if derry had to play a 14? at minor it probably says more about th dery setup than mcNicholl.
another way of judging it is players who played senior on the same day like Benny coulter or paddy McBrearty and indeed Wille joe padden( and a few more)

the best minor player i have seen was Kyle coney Tyrone. looked a dead cert to be a superstar but it just didnt really happen for him

Derry got to 3 AI minor finals 80,81 and 83 winning the latter with DMcN as captain so I would say they had a fairly good setup at that time and for a 14 year old to be part of that also says a whole lot about how good he was.

Or maybe playing for Ireland at 19 and getting an allstar at the same age says more about the Ireland and and Allstar setups than it does about McNicholl also.

I get the 3 years, but 5 years is surely wrong. With him missing minors in his last year at school in the North that would put him at 13 when he was called in because he could be 17 or just turned 18 when he captained the team. 5 years at macrory would only be 4 years at minor too. He'd be playing minor in 2nd year if that's right. He must of been a serious monster in 3rd year to play Macrory in a winning team. Easy to write off playing young in a bad team.

James McCartan played in 3 out of 4 macrory finals I think (1988 went to a 2nd replay), won 1 and a hogan and got to 2 all ireland finals at minor winning one. I think he was only 18 or 19 on the international rules too.

[imtommygunn]

Tbh I have always thought a recurring theme of the players who made minor early was that their senior careers didn't last as long or definitely they dropped off a good bit earlier in their career.

McCartan was phenomenal at 19 ish but I would say at 28 or 29 wasn't as good. Paddy McKeever would have dropped off a bit early too.

[bigarsedkeeper]

Tbh I have always thought a recurring theme of the players who made minor early was that their senior careers didn't last as long or definitely they dropped off a good bit earlier in their career.

McCartan was phenomenal at 19 ish but I would say at 28 or 29 wasn't as good. Paddy McKeever would have dropped off a bit early too.

He got battered playing club football too. Diarmuid Marsden played senior as a minor too. In the hogan win in 1993 he was just class.

[Franko]

this is one are stats dont tell the whole truth  if derry had to play a 14? at minor it probably says more about th dery setup than mcNicholl.
another way of judging it is players who played senior on the same day like Benny coulter or paddy McBrearty and indeed Wille joe padden( and a few more)

the best minor player i have seen was Kyle coney Tyrone. looked a dead cert to be a superstar but it just didnt really happen for him

It really isnt 

They won ulster and reached the AIF

Read before you type

[Derry Optimist]

It is true to say that Dermot McNicholl has one of the most impressive careers at underage level in the history of Gaelic football.He was born in November 1965 and thus it is accurate to say that he was a 14 year old when he played for Derry minors in the All - Ireland minor final of 1980. He played FOUR YEARS AT MINOR LEVEL, 1980-1983 inclusively.In the latter year he captained Derry  to the All-Ireland Minor title.

[pbat]

Tbh I have always thought a recurring theme of the players who made minor early was that their senior careers didn't last as long or definitely they dropped off a good bit earlier in their career.

McCartan was phenomenal at 19 ish but I would say at 28 or 29 wasn't as good. Paddy McKeever would have dropped off a bit early too.

The story goes when Wee James toured with Ireland he roomed with Jack O Shea, one of the reporters asked him what it was like to share with a legend. Wee James replied" Jesus you'd need to ask Jacko".

[ONeill]

Clifford by far the best minor I've seen. Coney was dominant too. There was a lad Peter Sullivan or OSullivan for Meath in 92 I think who really stood out.

[JoG2]

this is one are stats dont tell the whole truth  if derry had to play a 14? at minor it probably says more about th dery setup than mcNicholl.
another way of judging it is players who played senior on the same day like Benny coulter or paddy McBrearty and indeed Wille joe padden( and a few more)

the best minor player i have seen was Kyle coney Tyrone. looked a dead cert to be a superstar but it just didnt really happen for him

It really isnt 

They won ulster and reached the AIF

Read before you type

[/b]

No way! Just start typing to blazes, better craic

The McNicholl stats are mind blowing. There's footage on YouTube, or there used to be, possibly from UTV, of McNicholl training as a youngin, incredible strong from a young age