Derry county football team
The Derry county football team represents Derry GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, in the Gaelic sport of football. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Ulster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League. Derry's home ground is Celtic Park. The team's manager is Rory Gallagher. The team last won the Ulster Senior Championship in 1998, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1993 and the National League in 2008. The team is nicknamed the Oak Leafers. History. In 1947 , Derry won the National Football League. The group leaders were invited to play in the League semi-finals because heavy snow had disrupted the competition. Francie Niblock scored one of the finest goals in League history in Croke Park as Derry beat Clare. In 1958, the county won its first Ulster Senior Football Championship and secured a surprise victory in that year's All-Ireland semi-final, beating Kerry thanks to a Sean O'Connell goal three minutes from the end. In the final, Derry scored a goal ten minutes into the second half through Owen Gribben, but Dublin secured victory  with goals scored by Paddy Farnan and Johnny Joyce. In 1965, the Derry minor team won the All-Ireland Minor Championship, and three years later, at under-21 level, the bulk of that team captured the All-Ireland Under 21 Championship. Derry won the Ulster Senior Championship three times in the 1970s (1970, 1975 and 1976), but failed to advance past the All-Ireland semi-final stage on each occasion. In 1973, Anthony McGurk became the first player from Derry to receive an All Star Award. The 1980s saw the county win two further All-Ireland Minor Championships (1983 and 1989 ) and their fifth Ulster Senior Championship (1987). The 1990s proved to be the county's most successful decade. They won the county's second National League title in 1992, before winning the Ulster Championship and a first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1993. Derry won back-to-back National Leagues in 1995 and 1996, and the under-21 team won the 1997 All-Ireland Under-21 Championship. In 1998, Derry won another Ulster Senior Championship. In 2008, the Derry side of the 1990s was rated as one of the best of the previous twenty years and would have achieved more were  it not for several unexpected defeats such as to Down in 1994, Tyrone in 1995 and Cavan in 1997. Derry won the 2000 National League and the county's minor team won their fourth All-Ireland Minor Championship in 2002. Derry won the 2008 National League, their sixth in all. Since then they have been overshadowed in the Ulster Senior Championship by the emergence of Tyrone and Donegal. Derry topped Division 2 of the NFL in 2013 and returned to Division 1 for the 2014 season. Manager Damian Barton was banned after involving himself in an on-field fight in  2016. Derry were relegated to Division 4 in 2018. Derry seriously debate whether to field a team in the Senior Football Championship as their presence in league and championship has been similar to that of Kilkenny, who concentrate on hurling instead. Current squad. Players. Notable players. "For details on former players, see List of Derry Gaelic footballers and ." Footballer of the Year. Two Derry players have been awarded the Texaco Footballer of the Year award. Ballymaguigan's Jim McKeever won the inaugural award in 1958, while Henry Downey of the Lavey club received player of the year for his performances  in helping Derry win the 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. 1958: Jim McKeever 1993: Henry Downey All Stars. Since the 1960s there has been a tradition of annually selecting the best footballer in each position, to create a special team of the year. Between 1963 and 1967 these players received what was known as Cú Chulainn awards. In 1971 these awards were formalised into the annual All Stars Awards. Including Sean O'Connell's Cú Chulainn award in 1967, Derry have received 28 All Stars. 1967: Sean O'Connell 1973: Anthony McGurk 1975: Peter Stevenson, Anthony McGurk, Gerry McElhinney 1984: Dermot  McNicholl 1987: Tony Scullion, Brian McGilligan 1992: Tony Scullion, Anthony Tohill, Enda Gormley 1993: Tony Scullion, Johnny McGurk, Henry Downey, Gary Coleman, Anthony Tohill, Brian McGilligan, Enda Gormley 1995: Tony Scullion, Anthony Tohill 1996: Joe Brolly 1997: Joe Brolly 1998: Seán Marty Lockhart 2000: Kieran McKeever, Anthony Tohill 2004: Enda Muldoon 2007: Kevin McCloy, Paddy Bradley GPA Gaelic Football Team of the Year. Since 2006 the Gaelic Players Association have chosen their own team of the year. 2007: Paddy Bradley International rules representatives. A number of Derry players have been selected to play International rules football for the Ireland team  against Australia; both in the test games (1984, 1986, 1987 and 1990) and since the commencement of the International Rules Series in 1998. Note the table is incomplete. Honours. "For more details on this topic including team line-ups, see here"