Who is Brian McEniff?

Brian McEniff was born on the 1st December, 1942, in Bundoran, County Donegal. Brian's parents were Mr. John McEniff and Elizabeth Begley and were married in Bundoran in 1935. Brian has three brothers: P.J. McEniff, Seán McEniff and Liam McEniff , and one sister, Mary McGlynn. Brian went to Bundoran Primary School. At the age of 12 he attended St. Macarten's College, a boarding school, in Monaghan Town. Following this, at the age of 17, he went to Cathal Burgha Street College in Dublin where he studied Hotel Management for three years.

In 1962 he went to Canada in order to gain valuable work experience, and worked for four years in the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. It was there that he met and married Catherine O’Leary, a Cork native, and they went on to have three children while living in Canada. Brian returned to Ireland in 1966 and got involved in the Donegal GAA, playing at the Donegal County level.

Brian McEniff is known in Ireland as being a successful Gaelic football manager in County Donegal, Ulster, Ireland. His success culminated in 1992 when he led his native Donegal team to glory at Croke Park in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final against Dublin.

In 2003 Brian brought the Donegal team to The All Ireland Semi Final. In this year, he was also in charge of the County Team, and he also managed the Ulster Team from 1983 to 2007. Under his leadership Ulster won 12 Railway Cup Finals. In 1975 he assisted of the Sligo Team and achieved victory when they won the Connacht Championship. He has also managed the Irish Compromise Rules team in 2000 and 2001. They went to Australia in October 2001 where they won their games against the Australian Team and he also served on The GAA Central Council.

In his playing career, he was player Manager of the first Donegal team to win an Ulster Championship title in 1972, and was also the recipient of an All-Star award in 1972. He is also the recipient of an GAA All Stars Awards in 1972 and has won numerous titles with his home club of Bundoran, the famous St. Joseph's combination of Bundoran and Ballyshannon, Donegal and Ulster. He won his last county championship with Bundoran in 1979. McEniff's stood down from his position as Ulster manager in 2007, 25 years after taking the job in 1982.

Brian is Director of the McEniff Hotels including the Holyrood Hotel (originally bought by his father John in 1951) and the Great Northern Hotel & Golf links. In 1969, Brian bought the Hamilton Hotel which was next door to the Holyrood Hotel.

Source : Wikipedia