County Fermanagh Contae Fhear Manach Coontie Fermanagh
Coat of arms
Motto: Feor Magh Eanagh
Country	United Kingdom
Region	Northern Ireland
Province	Ulster
County seat	Enniskillen
Area
• Total	653 sq mi (1,691 km2)
Area rank	25th
Population (est.)	57,527
• Rank	28th[1]
Contae Fhear Manach is the Irish name; Countie Fermanagh,[2] Coontie Fermanagh[3] and Coontie Fermanay[4] are Ulster Scots spellings (the latter used only by Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council).

County Fermanagh (pronunciation: /fərmˈænə/) (from Irish: Fear Manach meaning "men of Manach") is the only one of six counties that form Northern Ireland to not adjoin Lough Neagh. Lying within the historical province of Ulster, it is also one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland.

The county covers an area of 1,691 km² (653 sq; mi), with a population of approximately 57,527, with Enniskillen its county town. It is a mainly rural landscape.

It is one of four counties of Northern Ireland presently to have a majority of the population from a Catholic background, according to the 2001 census.

Geography[link]

Fermanagh borders County Tyrone to the north-east, County Monaghan to the south-east, County Cavan to the south-west, County Leitrim to the west and County Donegal to the north-west.

The county is situated mostly in the basin of the River Erne. It is approximately 120 km (75 mi) from Belfast and 160 km (99 mi) from Dublin.

History[link]

The Annals of Ulster which cover medieval Ireland between AD 431 to AD 1540 were written at Belle Isle on Lough Erne near Lisbellaw.

Fermanagh was a stronghold of the Maguire clan and Donn Carrach Maguire (died 1302) was the first of the chiefs of the Maguire dynasty. However on the confiscation of lands relating to Hugh Maguire, Fermanagh was divided in similar manner to the other five escheated counties among Scottish and English undertakers and native Irish. The baronies of Knockinny and Maghenaboy were allotted to Scottish undertakers, those of Clankelly, Magherastephana and Lurg to English undertakers and those of Clanawley, Coole, and Tyrkennedy, to servitors and natives. The chief families to benefit under the new settlement were the families of Cole, Blennerhasset, Butler, Hume, and Dunbar.

Fermanagh was made into a county by statute of Elizabeth I, but it was not until the time of the Plantation of Ulster that it was finally brought under civil government.

Administration[link]

Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas.

Fermanagh is part of the Fermanagh and South Tyrone Parliamentary Constituency, renowned for high levels of voting and for electing Provisional IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands as a Member of Parliament in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election, April 1981, shortly before his death.

Industry and tourism[link]

Agriculture and tourism are two of the most important industries in Fermanagh. The main types of farming in the area are beef, dairy, sheep, pigs and some poultry. Most of the agricultural land is used as grassland for grazing and silage or hay rather than for other crops.

The waterways are extensively used by cabin cruisers, other small pleasure craft and anglers. The main town of Fermanagh is Enniskillen (Inis Ceithleann, 'Ceithleann's island'). The island town hosts a range of attractions including the Castle Coole Estate and Enniskillen Castle, which is home to the museum of The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.

Attractions outside Enniskillen include:

• Belleek Pottery
• Castle Archdale
• Crom Estate
• Devenish Island
• Florence Court
• Lough Navar Forest Park
• Marble Arch Caves

Settlements[link]

Large towns[link]

(population of 18,000 or more and under 75,000 at 2001 Census)^[11]

• none

Medium towns[link]

(population of 10,000 or more and under 18,000 at 2001 Census)^[11]

• Enniskillen

Small towns[link]

(population of 4,500 or more and under 10,000 at 2001 Census)^[11]

• none

Intermediate settlements[link]

(population of 2,250 or more and under 4,500 at 2001 Census)^[11]

• Lisnaskea

Villages[link]

(population of 1,000 or more and under 2,250 at 2001 Census)^[11]

• Ballinamallard
• Irvinestown
• Lisbellaw

Small villages or hamlets[link]

(population of less than 1,000 at 2001 Census)^[11]

• Belcoo
• Bellanaleck
• Belleek
• Boho
• Brookeborough
• Corranny
• Derrygonnelly
• Derrylin
• Ederney
• Garrison
• Kesh
• Maguiresbridge
• Newtownbutler
• Rosslea
• Teemore
• Tempo

Subdivisions[link]

Baronies

Baronies of County Fermanagh within Northern Ireland with civil parish boundaries

• Clanawley
• Clankelly
• Coole
• Knockninny
• Lurg
• Magheraboy
• Magherastephana
• Tirkennedy

Parishes

Townlands

Media[link]

Newspapers

• The Fermanagh Herald
• The Fermanagh News
• The Impartial Reporter

Radio

• Q101.2

New Media

• Fermanagh.tv

Sport[link]

Fermanagh born Goalkeeper Roy Carroll playing with Derby County.

Fermanagh GAA has never won a Senior Provincial or an All-Ireland title in any Gaelic games.

No Fermanagh clubs take part in the Northern Ireland football league system. Fermanagh clubs play in the Fermanagh & Western FA league systems. Famous Football players from Fermanagh include Roy Carroll, Harry Chatton, Barry Owens and Kyle Lafferty.

Notable people[link]

Famous people born, raised in or living in Fermanagh. (Please make additions in alphabetical order.)

• John Armstrong (1717–1795), born in Fermanagh, United States Congressman^[12]
• Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), author and playwright (educated in Portora Royal School)
• Denis Parsons Burkitt (1911–1993), doctor – discoverer of Burkitt's lymphoma
• Roy Carroll (1977– ), association footballer
• Brendan Dolan (1973- ), Professional darts player for the PDC
• Charles Lawson (1959– ), actor (plays Jim McDonald in Coronation Street)
• Edward Cooney (1867–1960), evangelist and early leader of the Cooneyite and Go-Preachers
• Brian D'Arcy (1945– ), C.P. Passionist priest and media personality
• Adrian Dunbar (1958– ), actor
• Neil Hannon (1970– ), musician
• Robert Kerr (1882–1963), athlete & Olympic Gold Medalist
• Kyle Lafferty (1987– ), Northern Ireland International association footballer
• Terence MacManus (c. 1823–1861), leader in Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848
• Sean Quinn (1947– ), entrepreneur
• Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), author and playwright (educated in Portora Royal School)
• Gordon Wilson (1927–1995), Peace campaigner and Irish senator

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: County Fermanagh

• Extreme points of the United Kingdom
• Abbeys and priories in Northern Ireland (County Fermanagh)
• People from County Fermanagh
• Castles in County Fermanagh
• Silver bands in County Fermanagh
• List of places in County Fermanagh
• List of parishes of County Fermanagh
• List of townlands in County Fermanagh
• Lord Lieutenant of Fermanagh
• High Sheriff of Fermanagh

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Clogher Record
• "Fermanagh" A Dictionary of British Place-Names. A. D. Mills. Oxford University Press, 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Northern Ireland Public Libraries. 25 July 2007
• "Fermanagh" Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition. 25 July 2007 <http://library.eb.co.uk/eb/article-9034047>.
• Fermanagh: its special landscapes: a study of the Fermanagh countryside and its heritage /Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. – Belfast: HMSO, 1991 ISBN 0-337-08276-6
• Livingstone, Peadar. – The Fermanagh story:a documented history of the County Fermanagh from the earliest times to the present day – Enniskillen: Cumann Seanchais Chlochair, 1969.
• Lowe, Henry N. – County Fermanagh 100 years ago: a guide and directory 1880. – Belfast: Friar's Bush Press, 1990. ISBN 0-946872-29-5
• Parke, William K. – A Fermanagh Childhood. Derrygonnelly, Co Fermanagh: Friar's Bush Press, 1988. ISBN 0-946872-12-0
• Impartial Reporter
• Fermanagh Herald

External links[link]

• County Fermanagh at the Open Directory Project
• Clogherhistory.ie
• Fermanagh GAA
• A folk history of Fermanagh

v t e Counties of Ireland The counties are listed per province Connacht Galway Leitrim Mayo Roscommon Sligo Munster Clare Cork Kerry Limerick Tipperary (North Tipperary · South Tipperary) Waterford Leinster Carlow Dublin (Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown · Fingal · South Dublin) Kildare Kilkenny Laois Longford Louth Meath Offaly Westmeath Wexford Wicklow Ulster Antrim† Armagh† Cavan Donegal Down† Fermanagh† Londonderry† Monaghan Tyrone† Italics denote non-administrative counties. Brackets denote non-traditional counties. †denotes non-administrative counties of Northern Ireland

Peter Bryant (27 October 1923 – 19 May 2006) was the fourth producer of the BBC science fiction programme Doctor Who. He was born in London.

Bryant was originally an actor and appeared in the 1950s soap opera The Grove Family. Later, he became a BBC Radio announcer while writing radio scripts as a sideline. This led to him becoming a script editor in the Radio Drama Department and eventually the head of the Drama Script Unit. About seven years later, he transferred from radio to television, where Head of Serials Shaun Sutton put him to work with script editor Gerry Davis on Doctor Who.

Having acted as Associate Producer on The Faceless Ones and The Evil of the Daleks, he was full producer for The Tomb of the Cybermen and then the bulk of the later Patrick Troughton stories from The Web of Fear to The Space Pirates. He was also the script editor on The Evil of the Daleks, The Abominable Snowmen and The Enemy of the World. During this time he was married to actress Shirley Cooklin but they eventually divorced.

He later became a literary agent to writers and a casting agent to actors. One of his clients was Doctor Who writer Eric Pringle.

Peter Bryant died in 2006, aged 82, after a year-long battle with cancer.

References[link]

• Howe, Stammer, Walker (1994), Doctor Who The Seventies, Doctor Who Books 

External links[link]

• Peter Bryant at the Internet Movie Database

Peter Canavan

Personal information
Irish name	Peadar Ó Ceannabháin
Sport	Gaelic football
Position	Forward
Born	(1971-04-09) April 9, 1971 (age 41) Glencull, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Height	5 ft 09 in (1.75 m)
Nickname	Peter 'The Great',[1][2] 'Wee Peter'
Occupation	Teacher[3]
Club(s)
Years	Club
1990–2007	Errigal Ciarán GAC
Club Titles
Tyrone titles	6
Ulster titles	2
Inter-county(ies)**
Years	County	Apps (scores)
1989–2005	Tyrone	49 (9–191 (218))[4]
Inter-county titles
Ulster titles	5
All Irelands	2
NFL	2
All Stars	6
**Inter County team apps and scores correct as of (22:03, 21 December 2006 (UTC))[5].

Peter Canavan (born 9 April 1971) is the current manager of the Fermanagh intercounty Gaelic football team. He is a former player for Tyrone, and is one of the most decorated players in the game's history, winning two All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals, six GAA All Stars Awards (more than any other Ulster player, and joint third overall),^[6] four provincial titles, and two National Leagues and several under-age and club championship medals. He represented Ireland in the International Rules Series on several occasions from 1998 until 2000.^[7] He is considered one of the great players of the last twenty years by commentators such as John Haughey of the BBC.^[8][9] and in 2009, he was named in the Sunday Tribune's list of the 125 Most Influential People In GAA History.^[10]

His scoring record of 218 points is the second highest of all time in the Ulster Senior Football Championship.^[4] His early high scoring rate, when he would often be Tyrone's best performer^[11]—particularly in the 1995 All-Ireland final when he scored eleven of Tyrone's twelve points—led to claims that Tyrone was a "one-man show," and that the team was too dependent on him, particularly in his early career.^[12][13][14]

Personal life[link]

Canavan is from Glencull, near Ballygawley, County Tyrone^[14] and was the tenth of eleven children.^[2] His older brother, Pascal, played with him on the Tyrone panel for most of the 1990s. He is married to Finola (sister of former Tyrone team-mate Ronan McGarrity^[14]), and has four children, Áine, Claire, Darragh and Ruairi, and has been a Physical Education teacher in Holy Trinity College, Cookstown, throughout most of his career (Gaelic games are amateur sports).^[14][15] While there, he taught Eoin Mulligan his point-taking technique, and the pair have been known in the media as 'master and student' ever since, particularly by television commentators.^[16]

He writes a column for the Gaelic games magazine, Hogan Stand^[17] and the Northern Ireland edition of The Daily Mirror.^[18] and in 2008, Canavan joined TV3 as a football pundit for their first year of broadcasting live GAA matches.^[19]

In 2003, just over a week before Tyrone's Ulster final appearance against Down, Canavan's father, Seán, died. It came as a shock to Canavan, who had thought his father (who was already in hospital) was getting better. He decided to play in the match, stating that he knew, subconsciously "[he] was going to be playing in the Ulster final all along and Daddy certainly wouldn't have wanted [him] to do anything but play."^[20]

Canavan has suffered from asthma since he was a child, and has battled throughout his career to control the ailment. He told the Asthma Society of Ireland, "I thought to myself, this is something that I am just going to have to put up with." In later years, however, improved medication has afforded Canavan what he described as, "a better quality of life".^[21]

Under-age career[link]

In order to play for an inter-county GAA team, Canavan had to work around a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) bylaw, because of a dispute in his parish, Errigal Ciarán. Two clubs claimed to represent the parish, the established Ballygawley St. Ciaran's club and the newly-formed club, then called Errigal Ciaran Naomh Malachai. Players from the Errigal team were not recognised as being GAA members, because the club failed to register correctly. Canavan registered as a member of the Killyclogher hurling club, even though he didn't play the sport, just so he would be eligible for selection for the Tyrone minors. Prior to that, he had not played legitimate club football, but had forged his way onto the Tyrone under-age teams with his performances at school level. The two clubs united under the banner of Errigal Ciaran two years later.^[22]

In 1988, Canavan won the Ulster minor Championship, an under eighteens tounament, but lost in the All-Ireland semi-final to Kerry. The crux of this team, including Adrian Cush, Ciaran Corr and others, would stay together as part of the senior team for most of the nineties. Canavan captained Tyrone to two All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championships titles in 1991 and 1992, having been on the team which lost the 1990 final, again to Kerry.^[3] In four years as an Under 21 player, Canavan scored 13-53 (13 goals and 53 points—each goal equals 3 points; 13 x 3 + 53 = 92 points, see GAA scoring rules) for Tyrone.^[5] By the time he was twenty, he was already an automatic choice in the senior panel.

Early senior career: 1993-1998[link]

Canavan's name was already known around Tyrone because of his exploits for the Under 21 team,^[8] but he started to make an impact in the Ulster Senior Football Championship in 1994, as Tyrone lost to eventual All-Ireland champions, Down. He was the top scorer in the province,^[4] earning him his first All Star, at the age of 23.^[23]

1995 All-Ireland Final[link]

Throughout the 1995 championship, Canavan had spearheaded Tyrone's march to the final, with round after round of massive scoring exploits. Against Derry in the Ulster Semi-Final, he scored 0–8, and against Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, he scored 1–7.^[24]

Tyrone reached their second All-Ireland Final in 1995, and were up against Dublin who hadn't won a Championship since the 1980s. In a turgid match, Canavan scored eleven of Tyrone's twelve points in the, but still ended up on the losing side. The game was remembered as contentious for Tyrone fans, for the fact that a point that would have equalised the match in the dying seconds was controversially disallowed, because the blind-sided referee deemed Canavan to have touched the ball on the ground.^[12] The referee, Paddy Russell stated in his autobiography that he was certain the ball was on the ground, but Canavan contested in the same book that he mangaed to get elevation on the ball as he punched, which would have been very difficult to do if it was touching the ground.^[25] He was the top scorer in Ireland that year, with a total of 1–38,^[5] earning him the inaugural Footballer of the Year title.^[23] The fact that Canavan's scoring tally was so far ahead of his peers on the team led to suggestions that Tyrone were depending too heavily on him.^[12]

1996: Injury[link]

For the 1996 championship, Canavan was handed the captaincy of Tyrone, and was Ulster's leading scorer for the third year in a row,^[4] and subsequently awarded his third successive All Star.^[23] Tyrone reached the All-Ireland semi-final against Meath, but Canavan was one of six Tyrone players to sustain injuries that day, which some Tyrone fans attribute to Meath's heavy-handedness.^[26] Canavan's injury was so severe that he was still feeling the effects for over a year,^[8] and there was speculation as to whether he had been playing on a broken foot.^[27]

1998–2000: International stage[link]

During a weak period for Tyrone Seniors in the late 1990s, Canavan represented Ireland in the inaugural International Rules Series in 1998 against Australia. In 1999, he was named vice-captain of the team for the tour to Australia, and Ireland came away convincing winners, with Canavan scoring eleven points in the first test in Adelaide, South Australia.^[7] In 2000, In the first test Australia's Jason Akermanis gave Canavan a bloody nose 20 seconds into the game.^[28] Canavan was sent off in the second test, after fighting with Akermanis. He was banned for one match, which wouldn't be played until the next year, so he ruled himself out of the next series.^[29] In five tests Canavan scored 37 points, becoming one of the few Irish players to leave their mark on the Australian supporters.^[30]

Late senior career[link]

Tyrone were one of the favourites for the 2002 All-Ireland, having won their first National Football League in the spring,^[27] but ended up losing a qualifying match to Sligo, even though Canavan scored six points on the day.^[31] That particular defeat stunned him so much, he considered retiring Inter County football.^[32] Despite that, he won his fourth All Star that year, the only Tyrone player to do so,^[23] which made him Tyrone's most represented player on the All Star Roll of Honour, overtaking Eugene McKenna, his manager at the time.^[33]

2003: Championship glory[link]

In 2003, Canavan shook off his tag as 'the greatest player never to win an All-Ireland',^[15][34] captaining Tyrone to their first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. As he approached the podium on Croke Park's Hogan Stand after the final, his nervousness was visible, and after being handed the trophy, he made an emotional speech about how he had to enviously watch other Ulster teams lift the Sam Maguire Cup, but "to eventually win it is something else."^[35]

His appearance in the final was remarkable for the fact that he was the top scorer of the day with five points,^[36] despite having suffered an ankle injury in the previous match, and was not expected (or advised) to play.^[8] He started the final and was taken off before half time. During the break, and even some way into the second half, he was receiving treatment to his ankle, including pain-killing injections.
With ten minutes remaining, he was reintroduced by manager Mickey Harte,^[35] likely due to his experience as the only member of the team who had played in an All-Ireland final before. This reintroduction, while not the first time it had happened (blood substitutions had been used sporadically, for example), was seen as one of the greatest moments in the GAA in the last forty years.^[37]

In the drawn Ulster final against Down, Canavan was playing a week after the death of his father. He remarked in his autobiography that he feared Tyrone were going to lose by one of the biggest margins in Ulster Championship history, if they didn't stem the flow of the Down attack.^[38][39] When Tyrone were awarded a penalty, Canavan stepped up, due to Stephen O'Neill (the first choice penalty-taker) being on the bench. He took the kick, and managed to find the net, later describing it as "the most important [kick] of my career," citing the fact that if Tyrone had been heavily beaten, they probably wouldn't have been able to pick themselves up to play in the 'back door' qualifier series.^[40]

Over the course of the 2003 Championship, he amassed a total of 1–48 (a total of 51 points),^[36] and had won the National League in the spring, all of which earned him a fifth All Star.^[23] Among his more notable performances of the year included an eight-point haul in the replayed first round match against Derry,^[41] and in the replayed Ulster Final, Canavan scored eleven points.^[42]

He became the first GAA star to gain an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster,^[15] and was also voted BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year,^[43] a regional award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Following an email campaign throughout Ireland, Canavan was an early forerunner for the national award, despite the fact that Gaelic games have very little exposure in Great Britain.^[44]

Following the 2003 final, Canavan relinquished the captaincy to Cormac McAnallen, but the 24 year old died shortly after taking up the position. This tragedy adversely affected the mindset of the team, and they were unable to defend their All-Ireland.^[45]

2005: Championship swan song[link]

Canavan was used mostly as an 'impact substitute' throughout the 2005 Championship—brought on to either unsettle the opposition, or rally his teammates.^[8] This backfired when he was controversially sent off within a minute of coming on as a substitute in the Ulster Final replay replay.^[46]

In the All-Ireland semi-final against Armagh (who were meeting Tyrone for the third time that year), Canavan scored with the last kick of the game, winning the match for Tyrone.^[47] Kevin McStay, a former Mayo player, described it as the point of the season, despite the free kick being from a relatively straightforward position.^[48]

Canavan (13, white) drilling home Tyrone's winning goal in the 2005 All-Ireland final

Mickey Harte chose Canavan on the starting line-up of the All-Ireland final and went on to score Tyrone's only goal, winning on a scoreline of 1–16 to 2–10.^[49]

He retired from inter-county football following this performance with a sixth All Star, ending a sixteen-year tenure in Senior championship football.^[50] He said of his decision, "I have spent enough time on the treatment table", referring to the instances where he played while carrying potentially career-threatening injuries, as he had done in 1996 and 2003. Canavan's appearance in the 2005 final (his last game for Tyrone), was his forty-ninth Championship match.

Other intercounty successes[link]

Canavan was part of both Tyrone sides that won the National Football League title two years in a row—in 2002 and 2003^[8]—and he competed in the 1992 final against Derry. His success in other competitions include five Railway Cups, two Vocational Schools titles, and one Dr. McKenna Cup.^[5]

Club career[link]

After retiring from inter-county football, he continued to play at club level for Errigal Ciarán until 2007.^[51] During the seventeen years he played he won six Tyrone Senior Club titles and two Ulster Club Championships,^[52] and in 2006, he won his first Tyrone All Star for his performances in the club championship.^[53] In December 2008, he moved into management for the first time, by taking charge of Errigal Ciaran,^[54] leading them to win the Tyrone All County League final in 2009.^[55]

Disciplinary problems[link]

His career features many examples of indiscipline,^[56][57] including on-pitch scuffles with other players.^[28] which at times threatened to overshadow his achievements. Jack O'Connor, Kerry's manager in the 2005 All-Ireland final, suggested in his autobiography that Canavan tackled Colm Cooper off the ball, preventing him getting into a goal-scoring position,^[58] a claim backed up by The Sunday Tribune journalist, Kieran Shannon.^[59]

Management career[link]

Canavan was appointed manager of Fermanagh in November 2011 on a three-year term to be reviewed annually, with trainer Kieran Donnelly and selector Enda Kilpatrick joining him.^[60] His First game was Antrim and Fermanagh won 2 goals an 11 points to 1.6.

References[link]