Kevin Cassidy

Cassidy retired from Gaelic football after Naomh Conaill defeated Gaoth Dobhair in the Donegal Senior Football Championship. However, he was persuaded to return and he went on to win a third Donegal Senior Football Championship medal with his club in 2018. He was then instrumental in Gaoth Dobhair's first ever Ulster Senior Club Football Championship success later in 2018, a run which involved a quarter final defeat of Cargin (a game in which Cassidy scored a goal and three points), a semi-final defeat of eleven-time winners Crossmaglen Rangers (a game in which Cassidy scored a goal and two points), and culminated in the club defeating Scotstown (who had won the competition on four previous occasions), the last two of these games occurring at Healy Park in Omagh. Thus, Cassidy added a provincial club title to his three county championships, and, afterwards, he described it as "the proudest moment" of his life. Cassidy earned praise both for his performance and, also, his efforts to control his fellow players and management team when tensions threatened to escalate on the pitch. Afterwards, he reflected on his expulsion from the county team by Jim McGuinness (see below) and admitted that if this had not occurred, and taking into consideration his then age of 37, he would most likely have been a spectator instead of a player on the day.

He spent two summers with Donegal Boston, the first when he was aged "23 or 24" and the second later with his family. In June 2018, he said he had spent four years in the United States.

In 2018, Cassidy sat down for an interview with the writer of the book This Is Our Year, who told him that an acquaintance at social events often introduces him as "the man who cost Kevin Cassidy a Celtic Cross". Cassidy responded by referring to his Glasgow birth and his soccer heritage:

Cassidy plays his club football for Gaoth Dobhair, with whom he has won three Donegal Senior Football Championships and one Ulster Senior Club Football Championship. Regarded as one of the best attacking wing half-backs of his generation, Cassidy has also played in midfield and even been his club's leading target man at the edge of the square during their successful Ulster Senior Club Football Championship campaign. A former member of the Donegal inter-county football team, Cassidy was twice an All Star — in his maiden season and in his last. He won the 2007 National Football League and the 2011 Ulster Senior Football Championship, before an enforced — and, subsequently, permanent — absence from the inter-county scene after Cassidy became involved in a dispute about a book with manager Jim McGuinness. In May 2012, the Irish Independent named him in its selection of Donegal's "greatest team" spanning the previous 50 years.

A qualified schoolteacher and fluent Gaeilgeoir, Cassidy's business ventures include the pub Teach Mhicí and Coláiste Chú Chulainn — a summer residential Gaelscoil for children of primary school age. He writes a weekly column for Gaelic Life and is often a co-commentator with both TG4 and RTÉ Sport.

In what went down as a "surreal moment for the viewer", Mícheál Ó Domhnaill famously interviewed McGuinness following a live 2012 league game on TG4 while Cassidy, in the role of television analyst, stood beside him with his head bowed. Cassidy later said:

He attended the Football Tour of New York in 2012, as the 2011 All Star winners were included.

Cassidy had announced his intention to retire after Donegal's Championship exit in 2010 but new Donegal manager Jim McGuinness called him into the 2011 Dr McKenna Cup panel. Cassidy went on to help Donegal to their first provincial title in 19 years with the defeat of Derry in the 2011 Ulster Senior Football Championship Final. In the All-Ireland quarter-final against Kildare in Croke Park on 30 July 2011, he scored a long-range winning point in stoppage time at the end of extra-time, a point that sent Donegal on to an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Dublin. This thrilling end to an "extra-time epic" is to this day regarded as "the finish to a sporting contest normally only imagined inside the heads of Hollywood scriptwriters".

In November 2011, manager Jim McGuinness dropped Cassidy from the Donegal team after he contributed to a book (This Is Our Year).

In 2011, Cassidy taught handicapped children songs and how to tie their shoelaces at the Little Angels school in Letterkenny.

Cassidy was named Donegal captain for the 2008 season. He savagely criticised the treatment of Brian McIver as a "disgrace", when the County Board famously forced McIver to resign. He quelled a potential players revolt in 2010.

After being assaulted on 24 August 2008, Cassidy and his older brother became involved in a dispute with his attackers. A court case resulted, though the case took almost four years to come before the court. In July 2012, Cassidy was found guilty of affray and sentenced to community service, the judge noting that none of the men involved had appeared in court since that time and none had had any previous offences like it.

In 2006, he and Eamon McGee were suspended from the Donegal football panel over a breach of discipline. As a result of his suspension, Cassidy played no part in the 2006 Championship and went to Boston in the United States for the Summer. Cassidy returned to the Donegal team the following year, this time in midfield alongside Neil Gallagher, and went on to play a pivotal role in helping Donegal win the county's first ever National Football League title in 2007. It was the first piece of silverware for the county senior team since 1992.

In 2004, Cassidy helped Donegal to reach the Ulster Senior Football Championship Final which they lost, again to Armagh. Their Championship season ended in defeat to Fermanagh.

Cassidy won his first Donegal Senior Football Championship medal with Gaoth Dobhair in 2002. While in the United States in 2006, he played in the Boston Championship. He returned later in the summer to win a second Donegal Senior Football Championship with Gaoth Dobhair, beating St Eunan's in the 2006 final.

Cassidy made his Championship debut against Cavan at Breffni Park on 12 May 2002. In his first season with Donegal, the team reached the 2002 Ulster Senior Football Championship final, but were defeated. Then he famously went on the lash when Donegal secured a draw against Dublin in their August Bank Holiday Monday All-Ireland quarter-final. Dublin obliterated Donegal in the replay. Nevertheless, Cassidy was awarded an All Star for his performances that year.

Kevin Cassidy (; born 1981) is an Irish-Scottish Gaelic footballer, businessperson, columnist and commentator. Though born in Glasgow, Scotland, he has been living in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal from a young age.