Pick Galway football’s top team over past 60 years
GALWAY football has produced many iconic figures over the decades, no more so than those great men who won the three-in-a-row of All-Ireland titles between 1964 to 1966. Whenever the names of those heroes are spoken today, it is with a touch of reverence.
Although Galway’s three-in-a-row teams of the 1960s pre-dated the GAA All-Stars awards scheme, which was initiated in 1971, the Tribesmen did sweep the boards when it came to the Cú Chulainn Awards, which was the precursor to the All-Stars, running from 1963 to 1967.
Indeed, in the first year of the awards, four players were honoured, namely Noel Tierney, Martin Newell, Mick Garrett and Pat Donnellan. When the Tribesmen won their first All-Ireland title in their three-in-a-row run, they claimed six: Johnny Geraghty, Tierney, Enda Colleran, Mick Reynolds, Cyril Dunne and Mattie McDonagh.
The following year, they won five – Geraghty, Colleran, Bosco McDermott, Dunne and Seamus Leydon – and, in 1966, Geraghty, Colleran, Donnellan, McDonagh, John Keenan and Leydon were feted.
Interestingly, Leydon also picked up a gong in the first year of the GAA All-Stars in 1971, alongside goalkeeper PJ Smyth and full-back Jack Cosgrove. Yet, despite the success on the awards circuit in these years, Galway have only won 23 All-Stars to date.
Consequently, we have decided to broaden the scope by asking Tribune readers to select their ‘Greatest Galway Football XV: 1960 - 2020’ by also including members of the Tribune’s ‘Team of the Century’, which was published in November 1999.
In addition, we are including 10 County Galway Sports Stars winners, with the majority of these being players who represented the Tribesmen with distinction post 2000. These include Joe Bergin, Michael Meehan, Finian Hanley, Paul Conroy and Gary Sice.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.