John Gildea (born 27 March 1971)[1] is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for Naomh Conaill and the Donegal county team.
[4] His early career was troubled; suffering a problem (which turned out to be a Vitamin B12 deficiency) that affected his ability to train, he made no further championship appearances while P. J. McGowan was manager of the county.
[2] Donegal won that game, with Gildea outmanoeuvring Dermot McCabe, but the county then lost the Ulster final to a late Joe Brolly goal.
[8] He started the first game of Brian McEniff's last spell as Donegal manager, a league defeat to Galway in Tuam in February 2003, during which he scored a point.
[11] Gildea first met Stephen Rochford, who went on to work with Bonner in his second spell as Donegal manager, during two visits to Australia from twenty years previously.