50 great GAA facts

COMPILED BY MICK BYRNE

1. Not alone was Peter Forde an accomplished full-back whose career spanned 10 years in the Mayo colours, but he was also a top class boxer, winning a national title. He also managed Sligo and Galway.

2. Peter McHugh from Cong was the first ever captain of the St. Colman’s team in 1948 before Eugene Macken captained the Claremorris school to Hogan Cup success in 1977.

3. Two of Mayo’s finest full-forwards, Mick Ruane and Fr. J.J. Cribben, have a good record for Mayo, scoring a goal every two games. Mick played 44 times and scored 22-21. Fr. J.J. played 24, scoring 12-31.

4. Ballycastle man Seamus O’Connor was the only man to play in three county finals in three different decades with three different teams: The Neale (‘60s), Crossmolina (‘70s) and Ballycastle (‘80s).

5. Hollymount’s Stephen Coen won three All-Irelands, captaining all three teams: Minor (2013), Under 21 (2016) and Sigerson Cup (UCD 2018).

6. From 2011 to 2019 (inclusive), Mayo appeared in All-Ireland finals and semi-finals 16 times in Croke Park and only three players started in all 16 games: Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor and Donal Vaughan.

7. When Mayo Ladies won their first All-Ireland in 1999, beating Waterford, captain Diane O’Hora was the last captain to be presented with the cup on All-Ireland final day in the old Hogan Stand. Work on the new stadium commenced the following week.

8. Castlebar's Brian McDonald won four All-Irelands with his native Dublin: two Minor ('58 and '59), one Junior (1960) and one Senior (1963). He won county championships with Castlebar Mitchels in the ‘60s and ‘70s and later won a Connaught final as manager of Mayo in 1992.

9. Mayo GAA president Sean Feeney won a Hogan Cup in 1964.

10. Mayo were the first county to play a Connaught championship game outside Ireland - against London in Ruislip in 1981.

11. Cillian O’Connor was the 2014 championship top scorer with 5-36, all five goals coming from penalties.

12. David Clarke captained Mayo in the 2012 All-Ireland football final.

13. John Nallen won eight Galway senior championships with Tuam Stars. He also played senior inter-county football with four different counties: Mayo, Galway, Meath and Cavan.

14. John O’Mahony managed three counties in Connaught to lift the Nestor Cup: Mayo ('89), Leitrim ('94), and Galway ('98 and '01).

15. It was an eventful day in the Connaught finals in MacHale park in 1989. The Connaught Council decided to replay the Galway v Roscommon minor final due to a disputed penalty. Roscommon went on to win the replay after extra time (2-11 to 0-15).

16. After that minor final, it appeared on BBC’s A Question of Sport what happened next in the Connaught senior final in Castlebar when Roscommon’s Eoin Gavin brought the crossbar down. Mayo went on to win the game 1-14 to 0-10.

17. In 1962 the same thing happened in Castlebar when Roscommon’s Aidan Brady broke the crossbar in a game against Galway, who were leading at the time, but Roscommon won the game.

18. The Mayo song ‘Sam Maguire Is Coming Home to Mayo’ got to number five in the Irish charts in 1997. The same year it was voted the worst GAA song of all time by the Sunday Times.

19. Claremorris man J.P. Kean, one of the finest to wear the green and red of Mayo, has some record. He won a county championship in 1971 with his native Claremorris. The same year he captained Mayo to All-Ireland minor success against Cork. In 1974 he played centre half-forward on the All-Ireland Under 21 winning team. He won two All-Ireland club titles with UCD, four Sigerson Cups, and a County League title with Tuam Stars. In 1988 he was voted the All-Ireland Clubman of the Year. J.P. was also a nephew of the great Jimmy Curran (Mayo ’55).

20. Jack O’Shea managed Mayo to a Connaught final in 1994. He was the only man in the history of the game to win four Footballer of the Year awards (1980, ’81, ’84 and ’85).

21. Mayo man Jerome Henry is on the national referees' panel.

22. In the 2019 season Mayo and Galway ladies played against each other three different times in three different provinces (in Castlebar, Limerick and Dublin).

23. London only once ever appeared in a Connaught final (2013). They lost to Mayo by 5-11 to 0-10.

24. Sean Flanagan and his son Dermot have won 12 SFC medals. They both played left full-back in three All-Ireland finals (Sean in ’50 and ’51 and Dermot in ’96).

25. Alan Freeman’s 2-6 against Derry was joint top in the 2014 NFL.

26. Mayo and Tyrone met for the first time in the championship in the All-Ireland senior football semi-final of 1989, Mayo winning 0-12 to 1-6.

27. Mayo’s Peter Solan once scored 5-2 against Sligo. He won two All-Ireland senior championships, one National League, two Sigerson Cups, one Hogan Cup, a Railway Cup, four Connaught senior and two Connaught minor championships from 1946 to 1951.

28. Former World Boxing Champion, 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett, hosted the Mayo team at his home in New York in 1932.

29. My good friend Carthage Buckley’s first match was a Division 4 game between Leitrim and Kilkenny. The following week he refereed a Division 1 match between Meath and Kerry. He later went on to referee three All-Ireland finals and also was the man in the middle in the famous Battle of Aughrim.

30. Dublin’s Paddy Andrews won his five All-Ireland medals while in his 30s.

31. The first 80-minute match was a Connaught Championship game in 1970 between Roscommon and Galway. Five years later, in 1975, the 70-minute games were introduced.

32. The four Meehan brothers from Galway all played senior inter-county football on the same day. The year was 2004, in an All-Ireland qualifier against Louth, Declan and Thomas played wing-back, Michael played full-forward, and Noel came on as a sub and scored a goal.

33. Dublin’s Joe McNally won an All-Ireland minor medal in goal in 1982 and in 1983 won a senior medal playing at corner forward.

34. The Newtons, John, Paul, Des and the dad, all played senior inter-county football for four different counties: Roscommon (John), Sligo (Paul), Donegal (Des) and the dad (Leitrim).

35. The last man to present the Sam Maguire (’07) outside of the President was Liam Mulvihill. It was the 2007 All-Ireland final, his last as Ard Stiurthoir. Nicky Brennan, as President, stepped aside to allow Liam the honour.

36. The first all-ticket All-Ireland was in 1997, Armagh v Dublin.

37. Mike Frank Russell was the only player to win every level of GAA championships. At second and third level he won Munster colleges, Hogan Cup and Sigerson Cup. At club level he won minor and county Under 21 championships, four senior leagues, two senior championships, two Munster club championships, and an All-Ireland club title. At county level he won Munster minor, an All-Ireland minor, three Munster Under 21s, two All-Ireland Under 21s, four National Leagues, eight Munster senior championships, five All-Irelands, one All-Star and one International Rules series.

38. Teddy McCarthy (Cork) was the last man to win All-Ireland senior hurling and football in the same year (1990).

39. When Monaghan last played Tyrone in 2019 in the championship, all of the 30 starting players had played in the championship.

40. The largest ever attendance at an All-Ireland football final was in 1963, Down v Offaly (90,556).

41. Mickey Quinn (Leitrim) and Maurice Fitzgerald (Kerry) were the only two footballers to win All-Stars before playing in Croke Park.

42. Maurice Fitzgerald was the youngest ever All-Star at the age of 18.

43. In his seven years as Dublin manager, Jim Gavin only lost to five teams in Croke Park in league and championship: Tyrone (2013 and 2019 league), Cork (2014 league), Donegal (2014 All-Ireland championship semi-final), Kerry (2017 league final) and Monaghan (2018 league).

44. Anthony Cunningham is the only man to manage sides to provincial titles in both codes in different provinces: Galway (Leinster hurling) and Roscommon (Connaught football).

45. Brothers Mark and Tomas Ó Sé both made 88 championship appearances for their county.

46. Paidi Ó Sé, Pat Spillane, Mikey Sheehy, Ger Power and Ogie Moran have won eight All-Ireland titles each. Ogie Moran played at centre-forward for all eight.

47. Since 2010 only five captains have lifted the Sam Maguire: Graham Canty (2010), Brian Cullen (2011), Michael Murphy (2012), Frank Fitzgerald (2014) and Stephen Cluxton (2013, ’15, ‘16, ’17, ’18 and ’19).

48. St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar, was the first college to win the Connaught Colleges Senior Football Championship (1929).

49. Galway’s Noel Tierney was the first Connaught man in 1964 to receive the Footballer of the Year award, followed by Martin Newell in 1965.

50. Tooreen’s Cathal Freeman raised over €50,000 for charity doing a marathon while soloing a sliothar during the Covid-19 pandemic.