GAA Museum honours Hurling & Football Legends with 2019 Hall of Fame Awards
The GAA Museum at Croke Park has announced the induction of six more iconic players into the Hall of Fame for 2019 covering the period 1985 to 1989. The addition of these six new Gaelic games stars to the Hall of Fame brings the total number of inductees to 54 across hurling and football.
This year, for the first time since the Hall of
Inductees to the GAA Museum Hall of Fame are chosen for their extraordinary talent, skills, sportsmanship and their ability to contribute to the overall performance of their team. These men have made a huge impact on hurling and football in their individual counties.
Personal objects from each of the inductees,
including medals, jerseys, awards and other sporting memorabilia are on display
in the GAA Museum’s Hall of Fame. This permanent exhibition is one of the
museum’s most popular attractions and includes match footage featuring all 54
inductees narrated by Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
In
2018, the GAA Museum welcomed 160,000 visitors, of which 30% were from
overseas.The
museum, which opened in 1998, houses a vast collection tracing the birth and
growth of Gaelic games and is the starting point for the Croke Park Stadium
Tour and Ericsson Skyline Tour.
Hurling
Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton (Antrim)
Regarded as one of Antrim's greatest-ever hurlers and as one of the best players never to win an All-Ireland medal. In 2013 he was chosen at left wing-back on a special "Stars of the 1980s" team. He lined out at corner –forward in the 1989 All-Ireland Hurling Final for Antrim against Tipperary and was awarded an All-Star in 1991. At club level, Sambo has won county championships and seven Ulster club titles with RuairíÓgCushendall.
Conor Hayes (Galway)
Conor Hayes is a three-time All-Star. He made his debut for the Galway senior hurlers during the 1979 championship and went on to play a key role for the Tribesmen for over a decade, winning three All-Irelands and two National Leagues. He was captain when Galway won back-to-back All-Ireland titles in 1987 and 1988. Conor is also an All-Ireland winner at club level, having achieved the highest honour in club hurling with Kiltormer in 1992. He is the holder of two Connacht club championships and three Galway hurling championships with Kiltormer and was named on the Galway Hurling Team of the Millennium.
Nicky English (Tipperary)
Nicky English of Lattin-Cullen clubman played a significant role in Tipperary’s re-emergence as a hurling force in the 1980s. In a 14-year senior inter-county career, Nicky won two All-Irelands – in 1989 and 1991 - five Munster championships, a National League and was awarded six All-Stars. He scored 20 goals and 117 points and was named Hurler of the Year in 1989. Nicky also won two Railway Cups with Munster and five successive Fitzgibbon Cups with University College Cork. With his club, Lattin-Cullen, he won intermediate and junior championship medals. After taking over as Tipperary senior hurling manager in 1998, he guided his county to two National Leagues, a Munster championship and, in 2001, the All-Ireland title.
Football
Denis ‘Ógie’ Moran (Kerry)
In the history of Gaelic football, only five players have won eight All Ireland winners' medals. All are members of the great Kerry side of the 1970s and 1980s. But only one of them played every single minute of those eight All Ireland final triumphs. That was Denis "Ógie" Moran who won senior All Irelands in 1975, 1978 – 1981 and 1984 – 1986. ‘Ógie’ also stands apart as the only player to win these eight All-Ireland medals playing in the same position. Over the course of a 12-year senior inter-county career, ‘Ogie’ Moran also won 11 Munster senior championship medals, 3 National Leagues and was an All-Star in 1981.
Colm O’Rourke (Meath)
During
a 20-year senior inter-county career, Colm O’Rourke was a regular member of the
starting fifteen on the Meath football team.
The Skyrne clubman won back-to-back All-Ireland titles in 1987 and 1988
and was named Footballer of the Year in 1991. A
three-time All Star in 1983, 1988 and 1991, Colm also won five Leinster
championships and three National Leagues.
He made 59 championship appearances for the Royal County, scoring 16
goals and 105 points. With his club,
Skyrne, Colm has won two Meath senior championships in 1992 and 1993. As a student at UCD he won a Sigerson Cup
medal in 1979.
Larry Tompkins (Cork)
Three-time All-Star winner Larry Tompkins enjoyed a nine-year senior inter-county career with the Cork footballers and was captain when the Rebels won a second consecutive All-Ireland senior title in 1990. Larry also won six Munster senior titles and a National League. Larry first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a 16-year old in 1979 with his native county, Kildare. A member of the minor, U21 and senior football teams, he experienced All-Ireland success with the U21 team in 1983. On return from the United States in the mid-1980s, Larry settled in Cork and thus began his career for the Rebel county. In late-1996 he succeeded Billy Morgan as Cork manager and despite initial setbacks, he guided the county to a National League and two Munster championships.
