Brian Roper (Gaelic footballer)

Brian Roper (born 1974/5) is an American Gaelic footballer who has lived in Ireland most of his life, and who played for Aodh Ruadh and the Donegal county team.

For other uses, see Brian Roper.
Brian Roper
left
Personal information
Sport Gaelic football
Position Forward
Born 1974/1975 (age 45–46)[1]
Boston, United States of America
Height 5 ft 6[2] in (1.68 m)
Club(s)
Years Club
1992–2013
 Aodh Ruadh
Inter-county(ies)
Years County
1995–2009[2][3]
 Donegal
Inter-county titles
NFL 1

Roper preferred to play centre-forward, but tended to play at wing-forward for Donegal.[1] Brian McEniff described him as one of the best forwards in the country for the best part of a decade and a half.[4]

He won an Ulster Under-21 Football Championship. However, he never won the Ulster Senior Football Championship during his career.[3]

Early life

His family own a monumental masonry firm.[2] His father P. J. would attend underage matches where he would umpire, be a linesman or kit collector.[2] Roper attended De La Salle College Ballyshannon, where he won the McLarnon Cup and received a Colleges All Star, and was mentored by future county teammate Noel Hegarty.[2] When he was fifteen years of age he injured his knee ligaments while playing association football on the beach at Rossnowlagh near his family home and was unable to play sport for a year.[2] Shortly afterwards, his father died suddenly due to a brain haemorrhage.[2]

Playing career

Club

Roper won three Donegal Senior Football Championships and one League with Aodh Ruadh.[1] His first Donegal SFC was in 1994 before he was called into the senior county team.[2]

Inter-county

Roper won an Ulster Under-21 Football Championship medal with Donegal in 1995.[1][5]

P. J. McGowan was the manager to introduce Roper to the Donegal senior team.[6]

He made his championship debut against Down in Clones, scoring a point in a one-point loss.[2]

Though, upon his retirement, the Donegal Democrat said Roper's championship debut came in 1996 against Antrim in Ballybofey, having made several appearances in the National Football League earlier that year.[4] The paper said P. J. McGowan called himself, Damian Diver, Adrian Sweeney, Peter McGinley, Dessie McNamara and Martin Coll into the county senior squad following the county's 1995 Ulster Under-21 Football Championship winning campaign.[4]

Roper missed the 1998 Ulster Senior Football Championship final with a hamstring injury.[2][7]

He was a member of the Donegal team that won the National Football League in 2007, scoring three points in the final against Mayo.[8] As a result of this he was honoured by both the Opel GPA awards and the Vodafone Allstars.[9] He retired from the county team in 2009 with a record number of appearances.[10] His last game was the 2009 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final loss to Cork.[3][10]

Management career

In November 2017, he became part of Gary McDaid's back-room team when McDaid became the first manager of the new Donegal under-20 football team.[11][12]

Personal life

His other interests include scuba diving and the English association football club Manchester United.[1]

Honours
Donegal
Aodh Ruadh
Individual
  • All Star Footballer of the Month: April 2007[9]
  • GPA Footballer of the Month: April 2007[9]

References
  1. "BRIAN ROPER Donegal footballer". Irish Independent. 4 June 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2006.
  2. McLaughlin, Terry (6 June 1999). "Resilient Roper ready to reap his reward". Sunday Independent.
  3. Nulty, Chris (22 July 2011). "1992–2011: The best XV not to win Ulster…". Donegal News. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  4. "Roper heads into the sunset". Donegal Democrat. 12 January 2010. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  5. McNulty, Chris (1 August 2014). "It's all in the mind for Anthony McGrath". Donegal News. Retrieved 1 August 2014. Under Donal Reid's management, McGrath – on a team that included Diver, Martin Coll, Adrian Sweeney, James Ruane and Brian Roper – won an Ulster Under-21 Championship against Cavan in 1995.
  6. Moran, Sean (9 July 1997). "McGowan calls it a day with Donegal". The Irish Times.
  7. McNulty, Chris (7 June 2020). "A self-made debut to the Promised Land: How Tony Boyle became a Donegal great". Retrieved 7 June 2020. Brian Roper hurt his hamstring and was ruled out.
  8. "Donegal achieve historic win - First national league title comes to county after victory over Mayo". Donegal Times. 25 April 2007. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  9. "Prendergast and Roper take awards". Irish Independent. 14 May 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2007.
  10. "Donegal hit by the retirement of Brian Roper". BBC Sport. 28 December 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
  11. Campbell, Peter (24 November 2017). "Glenswilly's Gary McDaid set to lead Donegal U-20s in 2018". Donegal Democrat. Archived from the original on 2017-11-29. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  12. "Gary McDaid on starting out as Donegal's u20 Manager". Highland Radio. 28 November 2017. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
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