Justin McNulty


Justin McNulty MLA is an Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party politician, a former Gaelic football manager, and a former player for Armagh. He has sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2016 as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Newry and Armagh.
He played football with his local club Mullaghbawn Cúchullain's in Armagh and was a member of the Armagh senior football team from 1995 to 2005. He won an All-Ireland medal in 2002 playing full back.

Sporting career

The Lislea-born, McNulty played for Mullaghbawn alongside his twin brother Paul and their younger brother, Enda. Justin made his senior debut in 1995 in a league game against Louth. Justin won 5 Ulster Championship Medals and in 2002 he captured his first ever All-Ireland medal when Armagh defeated Kerry with the scoreline 1-12 to 0-14. In 2005 McNulty retired from Inter-County football. Management followed soon after and Justin led of Cavan to a Senior Championship in 2006.
The following year Justin managed in Dublin who was narrowly beaten in the 2007 Dublin County Final by St Vincent's who went on to win the All Ireland. In late 2009 he was appointed as one of the selectors of the former Armagh manager Paddy O'Rourke.
In August 2010 after Sean Dempsey resigned McNulty was appointed as the new Laois manager. The first for McNulty proved to be a great success as Laois gained promotion to the top tier despite losing out in the league decider to Donegal.

Political career

McNulty contested his home constituency of Newry and Armagh for the SDLP in the 2015 general election. Despite losing to Sinn Féin candidate Mickey Brady, McNulty polled 12,026 votes, a 24.1% share which represented a 1500 vote increase on the previous election. McNulty was elected to the 6th Northern Irish Assembly on 3 March 2017 for the SDLP. In the General election of 2017, McNulty saw his share of the vote drop to 16.9% Newry and Armagh with his Sinn Féin rivals vote increasing by 6.8%.