Ulster FA vows to bounce back after recent period branded an ‘embarrassment’ 

Jim McConnell, the new Chairperson of the Ulster FA, has said the provincial association needs to win confidence back after a “disastrous” period.

An annual general meeting of the Ulster FA on Wednesday night in Letterkenny was its first in six years.

No minutes of previous meetings were available to the attendance and only very brief financial figures were at hand following a period for the association that has been branded an “embarrassment”.

Around 30 people attended the meeting at the Mount Errigal Hotel.

It was the first time that the Ulster FA AGM took place since 2019. In 2023, a scheduled AGM in Buncrana had to be postponed due to a lack of a quorum. Affiliates were told that the meeting would be rescheduled, but were met with only silence in the intervening spell.

Brid McGinty, who only recently stepped in as an interim treasurer on the Ulster FA following moves to revive it from the death bed, read the treasurer’s report and confirmed to the delegates that the period from 2019 to the end of 2023 “was in order”. From January 2024 until the end of April, 2025, all that could be given were balances of the accounts.

“An inconclusive treasurer’s report,” was all that could be given, she said, adding that no details regarding outstanding bills or money due inwards could be given as that information was not made available to the officers of the Ulster FA.

The outgoing Chairperson John McLaughlin said: “It is fair to note that it was said that a financial report would be here to hand, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

The meeting was informed that the Ulster FA Provincial Administrator Herbie Barr is due to finish in his position at the end of June. A replacement, for a role that is paid for by the Football Association of Ireland, is expected to be hired. Barr was also the outgoing treasurer of the Ulster FA.

Incoming Chairperson McConnell - a former long-term member of the FAI Board - said the administration of the provincial body “was a disaster”. He said: “It was an embarrassment, not only locally, but nationally.”

The Buncrana native, who formerly served as the Chair of the FAI’s Domestic Committee and sat on the old 10-man Board of Control, said the new committee would have to win back favour from its clubs and people.

He said: “We have to bring confidence back into the Ulster Football Association. Clubs and leagues have been scundered. Clubs have been paying in and stuff hasn’t been heard. It was a disaster. We have to draw a line in the sand now and move forward. We will do our best. 

“It is encouraging the amount of people at the meeting; I was apprehensive about the turnout that would come out.”

McLaughlin, in his outgoing addressed, urged delegates to make change. He said he wasn’t “walking away” from the committee, but said that change could start at the top. He was returned to the executive as the Appeals Board Secretary.

He acknowledged that many within football had questioned whether the Ulster FA was even required.

He said: “I believe that the Ulster FA is needed. In an ever-changing society in football, we need a voice. We need a voice in Dublin and this is our chance.

“This is the first AGM since 2019. At the start of it, we could blame Covid as things closed down. Things slowly came back to normal, but here in Ulster that didn’t happen. I didn’t think that this would happen in my term, but it has.”

McLaughlin thanked his fellow officers who endeavoured to “get things up and running again”.

Remarking that “an empty chair has no voice”, he added: “Times can be described as difficult and frustrating. It is fair to say it hasn’t been easy for the last few years. As Chair, I have found it strange and frustrating and certainly disappointing. I believe there are people - and good people - who still have an interest and a willingness to drive the association forward.” 

McLaughlin hailed the work of Steve Coll, the interim Ulster FA secretary who has also been elected to the SFAI Board recently. He said: “Steve has done great work to get us going again. He has lifted the phone and asked plenty of questions.”

Tributes were paid to long-serving Ulster FA executive members Dessie Kelly and Terry Leyden, who both passed away in 2024. McLaughlin said the pair “were time and time again elected to the committee with pride and honour. They served at meetings, they were present at finals and represented us in Dublin at all levels.”

A minute’s silence was held in their memory.

Coll also touched on his close friend Dessie Kelly who he said was “a lifelong stalwart and a great administrator”.

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Thanks were also passed to Daniel Doherty and his team who helped represent the Ulster FA at the recent FAI Youth Interprovincial Tournament. 

Coll noted that the attendances at the recent Ulster Junior Cup and Ulster Junior Shield finals “show that we have a product”. 

Among the immediate tasks facing the new executive is to update what Coll described as an “antiquated” rulebook. 

Ulster FA Executive 2025/26: Chairperson - Jim McConnell; Vice Chair - Mike Kelly; Secretary - Stevie Coll; Disciplinary Secretary - Christina O’Donnell; Treasurer - Brid McGinty; Appeals Board Secretary - John McLaughlin.