{{short description|Irish Gaelic footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox Gaelic Athletic Association player | name = Sean Ferriter | image = | alt = | caption = | <!-- Personal information --> | irish = | sport = Gaelic football | clposition = | icposition = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1938|09|15}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | feet = | inches = | nickname = | occupation = [[Garda Síochána|Garda]]<ref name=portrait/><br>Solicitor<ref name=portrait/> | <!-- Club(s) --> | code = Football | clyears = 19??–? | clubs = [[St Eunan's GAA|St Eunan's]] | clapps(points) = | <!-- Club titles --> | county = Donegal | clcounty = 3 | province = | clprovince = | clallireland = | <!-- Colleges(s) --> | colyears = | colleges = | colapps(points) = | <!-- College titles --> | fitz = | sig = | <!-- Inter-county(ies) --> | icyears = 1957–19?? | counties = [[Donegal county football team|Donegal]] | icapps(points) = | <!-- Inter-county titles --> | icprovince = | icconnacht = | iculster = | icleinster = | icmunster = | icallireland = | nfl = | nhl = | allstars = | <!-- Last updated --> | clupdate = | icupdate = }} {{Use Irish English|date=September 2019}} '''Sean Ferriter''' (born 15 September 1938)<ref name=HoF/> is an Irish former [[Gaelic football]]er who played for [[St Eunan's GAA|St Eunan's]] and the [[Donegal county football team|Donegal county team]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.steunansgaa.com/contentPage/78481/c_o_u_n_t_y_s_t_a_r_s|title=Outstanding Long Serving County Stars|work=Naomh Adhamhnáin|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412222506/http://www.steunansgaa.com/contentPage/78481/c_o_u_n_t_y_s_t_a_r_s|archivedate=12 April 2015}}</ref> His position was in midfield (though he did play as a goalkeeper for his school).<ref name=HoF/>
==Early life and education== Born in [[Milford, County Donegal]], his parents were [[Garda Síochána|Garda]] Morgan (from [[County Kerry|West Kerry]]) and Tess (from [[Baltray]] in [[County Louth]]).<ref name=HoF/> He was one of six children: four sons and two daughters.<ref name=HoF/> He attended Dunfanaghy National School for his primary education.<ref name=HoF/> For his secondary education, Ferriter attended [[St Eunan's College]] as a boarder, playing for the school team (as a [[Goalkeeper (Gaelic games)|goalkeeper]]) and being greatly influenced by [[John Wilson (Irish politician)|John Wilson]], the Gaelic footballer and future [[Tánaiste]] who was teaching there at that time.<ref name=HoF/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/SaintEunans/status/1134096816423809024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922185220/https://twitter.com/SaintEunans/status/1134096816423809024|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 September 2019|title=College Gaelic Team 1956 - 1957|date=30 May 2019|access-date=10 June 2020}}</ref>
==Playing career== Ferriter played for the Donegal team that won the 1956 [[Ulster Minor Football Championship]].<ref name=HoF/> He made his senior debut for Donegal in 1957 against [[Tyrone county football team|Tyrone]] at the age of 18.<ref name=HoF/>
He [[Captain (Gaelic games)|captain]]ed the Donegal team that overcame [[Cavan county football team|Cavan]] in the 1963 [[Ulster Senior Football Championship]] semi-final, thus earning his team a place in the final for the first time.<ref name=HoF/>
He played for Donegal in the [[1964–65 National Football League (Ireland)|1964–65 National Football League]] semi-final against [[Kerry county football team|Kerry]].<ref name=ker21072019>{{cite news|title=Back in time...|publisher=Clár Oifigiúil: Quarter-Final Group Stage, Group 2 Phase 2 (i.e. the Kerry match)|date=21 July 2019|page=35}}</ref>
He won three [[Donegal Senior Football Championship]]s with his club [[St Eunan's GAA|St Eunan's]].<ref name=HoF/> He also played for [[Ulster GAA|Ulster]] in the [[Railway Cup]],<ref>{{cite news|first=Chris|last=McNulty|url=http://www.donegalsporthub.com/32201-2/|title=Sean Ferriter pays tribute to the late Joe Lennon, 'a formidable opponent'|date=25 November 2016|accessdate=25 November 2016}}</ref> with whom he won two titles.<ref name=HoF/>
==Retirement== A former [[Garda Síochána|Garda]], Ferriter served for a time in Dublin.<ref name=portrait/> His experience of Dublin proved invaluable to [[Brian McEniff]] when Donegal qualified for the [[1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final]] — against [[Dublin county football team|Dublin]].<ref name=HoF/>
Ferriter later studied law and qualified as a solicitor, practising in the Dublin suburb of [[Blanchardstown]].<ref name=portrait/>
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.<ref name=HoF/> He has eight children.<ref name=HoF/> One of his sons, Paul, is a sculptor.<ref name=portrait>{{cite news|first=Dermot|last=Gilleece|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/a-portrait-of-the-artist-26506620.html|title=A portrait of the artist: Irish sculptor Paul Ferriter is carving a niche for himself in the world of golf|work=[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|Sunday Independent]]|publisher=[[Independent News & Media]]|date=18 January 2009|accessdate=18 January 2009|quote=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.}}</ref>
==Accolades== In 2001, the ''[[Donegal Democrat]]'' included Ferriter in a Millennium Team.<ref name=HoF/>
In May 2012, the ''[[Irish Independent]]'' named him in its selection of Donegal's "greatest team" spanning the previous 50 years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.donegaldaily.com/2012/05/14/gaa-donegals-greatest-team-of-the-last-50-years-named/|title=GAA: Donegal's greatest team of the past 50 years named|publisher=Donegal Daily|date=14 May 2012|accessdate=16 April 2021}}</ref>
In 2020, he was announced as the 44th inductee into the Donegal Sports Star Awards Hall of Fame Award.<ref name=HoF>{{cite news|url=https://www.highlandradio.com/2020/01/14/hall-of-fame-honour-for-sean-ferriter/|title=Hall of Fame Honour for Sean Ferriter|work=[[Highland Radio]]|date=14 January 2020|accessdate=14 January 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Donegal Football Team 1992}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferriter, Sean}} [[Category:1938 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:Gaelic football goalkeepers]] [[Category:Garda Síochána officers]] [[Category:Irish solicitors]] [[Category:People educated at St Eunan's College]] [[Category:St Eunan's Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:Lawyers from County Donegal]] [[Category:People from Milford, County Donegal]] [[Category:Police officers from County Donegal]] [[Category:20th-century Irish sportsmen]]