Barry Owens, in Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

, Barra Ó hEoghain, is an Irish Gaelic football

Gaelic football

Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...

er with the Teemore Shamrocks club and the Fermanagh county team

Fermanagh GAA

The Fermanagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Fermanagh GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. The county board is also responsible for the Fermanagh inter-county teams-History:...

.

Playing career

Owens has been described as "among the best full-backs in Ireland". He was an important part of Fermanagh's runs to the 2003 All-Ireland quarter-final and 2004 All-Ireland semi-final. He is a double All-Star winner, having been honoured in 2004 and 2006. Only two other Fermanagh footballers have received an All-Star award.

In January 2008, it was announced that Owens would undergo heart surgery, but he was expected to return to football within a few months.

On 21 June 2008, Fermanagh played Derry

Derry GAA

The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Derry GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. It is responsible for Gaelic games in the GAA county of Derry, which covers virtually the same territory as the former administrative county of Londonderry...

 at Healy Park in the Ulster Senior Football Championship

Ulster Senior Football Championship

For information on this years competition, see Ulster Senior Football Championship 2011-2010 Draw:-2009 Draw:-2008 Draw:-Top winners:* All-Ireland winning years in bold.-Roll of honour:Notes:* 1907 No final result in records...

semi-final; it was then that Barry Owens made his comeback. Within minutes of coming onto the pitch as a substitute, he scored a vital goal to give Fermanagh a place in the Ulster final.