125 Most Influential People In GAA History

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125 to 100

from www.tribune.ie

thought Jack Chartons inclusion was a bit strange, a good piece but. No doubt what so ever that everyone here will have their own ideas,

To celebrate a century and a quarter of our national games, the Sunday Tribune compiles the ultimate list of key figures, from players to administrators and beyond, who have helped to mould the association into what it is today

125 MICHEÁL MURPHY, Trend Setter

Although the honour has generally been accorded to his UCC clubmate Donal Clifford, Murphy, a Blackrock clubman, was the first hurler to use a helmet. In need of cranial protection following a fractured skull he rejected an American football helmet (too big), took to an ice hockey helmet but eventually decided on the Cooper model, which he wore during the 1969 Fitzgibbon Cup. (1942-)

124 SEAMUS ALDRIDGE, All Kinds Of Everything

The good, for Kildare, was his influence in the supporters club that helped attract Micko and unprecedented success. The bad was the loss of Larry Tompkins to Cork over a plane ticket. The ugly? The 1978 All Ireland final when he awarded that mysterious free against Paddy Cullen which immortalised Mikey Sheehy and shifted the balance in the greatest rivalry of them all. Twenty years after, Aldridge was still getting abusive calls. "Im fed up with Dublin whinging. Seventeen points and theyre still blaming Aldridge." (1935-)

123 Joe Sherwood, Groundbreaking Editor

The serendipitous combination of the three-part All Ireland hurling final of 1931 and the simultaneous founding of the Irish Press brought interest in and coverage of Gaelic games to a new level. Sherwood, a native of Workington, Cumbria, was sports editor of the Press; he knew nothing about Gaelic games but he knew a gift horse when he saw one. For the first replay in 1931 the Press ran four days of updates from the two camps, complete with detailed pen pictures. It quickly became the paper for GAA. (Sports editor, Irish Press, 1930s)

122 Joe Rafferty, The First Lilywhite

If one series of games popularised Gaelic football, it was the three-game saga between Kerry and Kildare for the 1903 All Ireland; as the legendary Dick Fitzgerald would say, "Both counties gave football a fillip that marked the starting point of the game as we know it." Up to then the biggest attendance for a football game had been 10,000. The second Kerry-Kildare game drew 18,000. The Kildare captain was a big reason why. It was he who pushed for Kildare to wear an all-white strip and even white boots 80 years before Gerry McInerney tried it out. Forty years before Christy Ring would bring a hurley everywhere he drove oil, Rafferty would carry a football with him on the lands where he worked as a cowherd while 90 years before Mick ODwyer he had Kildare playing a possession game. Kildare would eventually finish second in the Kerry saga but Central Council at its next meeting agreed to present each Kildare player with a gold medal. (1900s footballer)

121 Con Murphy, The Freeman Of Cork

He won four All Ireland hurling finals and refereed another two before serving 17 years as Cork secretary, playing a huge role in the construction of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. As GAA president from 1976 to 1978, Murphy distinguished himself by taking up the cudgels on behalf of beleagured Crossmaglen Rangers, personally taking the case of their occupied pitch to the British government. (1922-2007)

120 Dessie Ryan
Back in 2002, the late, great Eamonn Coleman was asked who he rated as footballs greatest coach. Micko? No. Kevin Heffernan? No. Billy Morgan? No. "Dessie Ryan," he replied. "He was years ahead of his time."

A fireman in New York for 25 years, Ryan returned home briefly to take Ballinderry to an Ulster club title in 1982 with a level of analysis and preparation that was unheard of at the time. But the best was yet to come. Between 1998 and 2000 he turned Queens into the closest thing to a football academy this island has seen, picking up the 2000 Sigerson along the way.

The confidence he gave the likes of Tom Brewster propelled the rise of Fermanagh. Four of the Armagh back six from the 2002 All Ireland final win played under him too. In fact, 13 of the Armagh and Tyrone squads from the 2003 decider had attended Queen s and learned from him the style of defensive and set-play football that has revolutionised the sport. (1940-)

119 Dr George Sigerson, The Generous Professor

There was no intervarsity GAA competition until this poet from Strabane instigated one by offering up a trophy in 1911 for football. A year after the UCD professors gesture, Dr Edwin Fitzgibbon, a Capuchin priest and Professor of Philosophy in UCC, offered one for hurling. They remain the longest-serving trophies in the GAA. (1836-1925)

118 Henry Shefflin, The Latest Cool Cat

His provincial debut, against Laois in 1999, coincided with Brian Codys championship bow as manager; the rest you know. With six All Irelands and counting, Ring and Doyles record of eight is in sight. (1979-)

117 Gerry Arthurs, Hand That Steadied The Till

When Eoin ODuffy was booted out in 1934 as treasurer of the Ulster Council at Convention, the provinces finances were in both a mess and the red. Arthurs though would bring such stability to the post, hed still be its treasurer 42 years later. Thats why Clones has a stand named after him. (1904- 1991)

116PJ DEVLIN, The GAAs First Propagandist

A clubmate of Cusacks, this Armagh man wielded considerable influence both on Central Council and in print; his pioneering Celt columns and Gaelic Athletic Annual were considered the most reflective voice of the GAAs outlook in the first quarter of the 20th century, particularly on contentious issues like the bans on foreign sports and the security forces. (1880-1942)

115 Mick Higgins, Eleven Summers, 11 Finals

In a career beginning in 1943 and stretching for 11 summers, he played in 11 consecutive Ulster finals for Cavan, winning eight. On three occasions, including the Polo Grounds in 1947, the team hallmarked by Higginss cerebral and prolific contributions from centre-forward, went on to take Sam Maguire. A subsequent seven-year stint as manager yielded another four provincial titles and, during that run, he somehow managed to simultaneously steer Longford to the 1966 National Football League and their first Leinster title two years later. Brian McEniff would enlist his services to help Donegal to their first Ulster in 1972. (1922-)

114 John OMahony,  The Western Leader

The only Connacht manager in the last 40 years to deliver Sam Maguire, though his greatest coaching job was with Leitrim in 1994. Even that would be trumped if he could bring Sam back to Mayo. (1953-)

113 Danny Murphy, The Progressive Conservative

Not so long ago the Ulster Council secretary would have had a reputation for being a surly conservative but the reality is the Down man governs the most efficient and professional provincial council in the history of the association. He has eased Ulster GAA into the realities of the post-ceasefire era and dealing with the security forces and its GAA teams, the Maze project and Stormont itself. And where do you think the GAAs new strategic plan got the idea of a Club Maith certificate scheme from? Yep, Ulster and Danny. (1950-)

112 Liam MacCarthy, He Gave A Little...

The son of a couple from Ballygarvan in Cork, MacCarthy was born in London where hed immerse himself in all things Irish – the Gaelic League, St Vincent de Paul, the Legion of Mary, the IRB, and naturally, the GAA. For more than 10 years he served as either president or secretary of the London board. In 1921 he donated a trophy modelled on the ancient Irish-loving cup, Gaelic Meither, for the All Ireland hurling championship. It would be another six years before friends of his successor as secretary, the deceased Sam Maguire, offered a cup for football. (1853-1928)

111 John Dowling, A Different Kind Of Dual Star

In 1960 he became the first man to referee both the senior hurling and football All Ireland finals. In the mid-60s he took over as Offaly secretary and by the time hed left he had overseen the arrival of Sam Maguire, Diarmuid Healy and consequently, Liam MacCarthy. As president of the GAA in the late 80s his great achievement was getting agreement from Belvedere and the church authorities to sell the strip of land alongside the old Croke Park on which the new stadium is situated. (1930- 2002)

110 Peter Canavan, The Best Small Man Ever

The best small man ever, the best exponent of the free out of the hand and a founding member of the GPA, Canavan helped redefine the possibilities for a footballer on and off the field. (1971-)

109 Seamus Ó RíAIN, Man Who Helped Mol An Óige

Hurler, footballer, athlete, handballer, Gaelgeoir and writer who penned an acclaimed biography of Maurice Davin. The club development scheme to provide finance for the wave of new social centres for GAA clubs in the 1970s was initiated largely at his behest, likewise the handball court in Croke Park. His greatest legacy is the establishment of the juvenile hurling extravaganza, Féile na nGael. (1916-2007)

108 Jim McKeever, Angel Who Caught Angels

His fielding exploits inspired generations of both Derry and Ulster footballers – including fellow Ballymaguigan clubman Eamonn Coleman. Even Mick OConnell himself would say he was the best fielder he encountered. Along with Joe Lennon and Jim McDonnell, McKeever ran the first-ever residential GAA coaching course in Gormanston in 1964, while as head of PE at St Josephs and Marys teacher-training college, his cerebral, mannered way influenced coaches like Art McRory, Mickey Harte, Peter Canavan and Peter McGinnity. "That man," McRory would later say, "has done more to promote the GAA than any other person I know." (1931-)

107 Mick Dunne,  Father Of The All Stars

For a generation this Laois man was the voice and face of Saturday afternoons. When fans survived on televised scraps of games, Dunne fronted Gaelic Stadium, the segment of Sports Stadium given over to reviews and previews. Formerly with the Irish Press, he became RTÉs first Gaelic Games correspondent in 1970, a pioneering remit that had him commentating on everything from All Ireland finals to the weekly handball staple Top Ace. From the 1960s, hed been pushing the idea of a formalised annual All Stars for players, and his enthusiasm, assisted by Paddy Downey, John D Hickey and Pádraig Puirseál, gave birth to the awards in 1971. (1929-2002)

106 Liam Griffin, King Of The Pikemen

Hurlings finest unpaid PR man; "the Riverdance of sport" indeed. What a shame he couldnt hang around as a manager for more than two years. As to what he influenced, well, we can think of 30 Wexford men whose lives he influenced profoundly while his use of Niamh Fitzpatrick helped give sports psychology a good name. Subsequently instrumental on the Hurling Development Committee that established the Ring and Rackard Cups and allowed the Armagh and Sligo hurlers their long-overdue day in the sun in Croker. (1945-)

105 Jim Kennedy, The Man Behind The Ladies

In 1971 ladies football was confined to a few clubs in Waterford but that October the Waterford chairman, Fr Percy Ahearn, along with an army sergeant and Congo veteran called Jim Kennedy organised the first inter-county game. Kennedys Tipperary won and in 1974 in Hayes Hotel, 90 years after the GAA itself was formed there, the ladies football association was born with Kennedy its first president. That same year he served as a selector to the Tipp side that won the sports first All Ireland. "Ladies football is a serious business," hed tell reporters. "Its not just a gimmick or flash in the pan." How right he was. (1925-)

104 Jack OShea, Best Of The Best

In a magazine column in the mid-80s, Ger Canning recalled watching kids playing on an estate green. The first youngster declared hed be Maradona. The second shouted "Ill be Jacko!" Thats the kind of mainstream appeal OShea held when there was the last real public debate about who was the greatest footballer ever. Whatever about that, he was the best player on the best team ever. (1957-)

103 John Doyle, Rock Of Cashel Made Flesh

Eight All Ireland medals, 11 National League medals and nobody within an asss roar of him as the choice for left-corner back on the Teams of the Century/Millennium. The Premierview website sums it up perfectly. "John Doyle remains the ultimate hurling icon in a county that likes its heroes uncomplicated, courageous and consistent. He probably best represents how Tipperary hurling sees itself." (1930-)

102 John Kerry ODonnell, The Don Of Gaelic Park

Having sold some of his own properties to prevent Gaelic Park from being lost to the GAA in 1941, this self-made man gave the Irish community a focal point with a social, cultural and economic significance far beyond the matches it hosted. The lifeblood of the games in New York for half a century, Kerry-born ODonnell helped organise the 1947 Polo Grounds All Ireland, introduced beer companies as tournament sponsors decades before Guinness discovered hurling, and promoted the first GAA world tours in the 1960s. Befitting a businessman with a maverick streak, and an administrator who ran his fiefdom as an independent republic, he regularly butted heads with Croke Park. (1899-1994)

101 Des McMahon, Architect Of The New Croker

By hiring the former Tyrone footballer for the project, the GAA got the ideal man to tell the world where they were coming from and where they were trying to go. His cathedral didnt just do the GAA proud but made all Irish people proud. (1941-)


100 Joe McDonagh, Rule 21 And All That

His father was one of the driving forces behind the Galway underage coaching incentive of the mid-60s that climaxed with Joe singing The Wests Awake on the steps of the Hogan but Joe would be a notable administrator himself. During his presidency, hed set in motion the removal of the ban on security forces, all football games to be played in the one calendar year and a minimum of two championship games for every inter-county team, even if it took until Seán McCagues term for them to be realised. (1953-)

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99 Larry Stanley, The First Great Midfielder

Just as theres a case that Larry Tompkins was Kildares greatest footballer, theres an equally plausible one he wasnt even the best Kildare player called Larry. A world-respected high jumper, Stanley was so good in the air he reportedly could catch the ball with one hand, while 40 years before Kerry complained about Downs spoiling tactics with Mick OConnell, Kerry unapologetically resorted to man-handling tactics themselves against Stanley. Like Tompkins, he would leave his own county to win an All Ireland, in Stanleys case with Dublin where he worked as a Garda, but not before winning an All Ireland with his own county in 1919 and not without returning to the Lilywhites in 1926 to spark them into winning six consecutive Leinster titles. Unfortunately, Stanley would be in exile over a dispute when theyd lift the inaugural Sam Maguire Cup in 1927 and again in 1928 due to a difference with the authorities but even then his legacy to his county and sport was secure. (1895-1987)

98 Jack charlton, Expanded Our Horizons

Yes, Jack Charlton. Look, its simple. Charlton led Ireland to Italia 90 and the nation went wild. But having learned how to get excited about the exploits of a bunch of northside Dubs, Londoners, Glaswegians and Scousers, how could we replicate the same colour and emotion the following summer? Thats right: get excited about players we actually knew. Our neighbours, our clubmen, the chap from over the road, the brothers and cousins and nephews of the people we met in the pub every week. And they were playing right here. So we could go and watch them. And wave our flags. And cheer them on. Thanks to Jack we learned to wear our county jerseys with pride. We learned how to celebrate. (1935-)

97 James Nowlan, Longest-Serving President

A cooper by trade and a Labour member of Kilkenny Corporation, he took over as president in 1901 and would stay in office until 1921. Of strong republican sympathies, he helped revive a moribund organisation. (1855-1924)

96 Pádraig Pearse, Ógs, Stadium, Park...

Is there anyone else who has more GAA clubs and grounds named after him? A member of the Leinster colleges council, Pearse strongly promoted the games at St Endas where one of his students was dual star Frank Burke. Pearse didnt just change Irish history but changed how the history of the GAA was written and how it perceived itself, adopting a republican slant for decades. (1879-1916)

95 Seán Purcell, The Master

After watching a Galway-Mayo game in Gaelic Park, John D Hickey wrote that he had "become utterly intolerant of those who argue there has been a better footballer than Seán Purcell". Fifty years on Jimmy Magee, Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin agree – The Master was the best. Though he won only the one All Ireland, Purcell would inspire the Donnellans and Dunnes and Joyces to bring back many more. (1929-2005)

94 PT HOCTOR, IRB In A Shuí

Originally from Tipperary, Hoctor was instrumental in laying the foundations of the GAA in Clare. Elected GAA vice-president in 1886, he came to dominate the central executive for a time, using his influence to push an IRB agenda that included the 1887 decision to ban Royal Irish Constabulary members. One of the leaders of that faction during the split that year, his editorship of The Gael newspaper established in opposition to Cusacks Celtic Times briefly afforded this loquacious character a legitimate claim to have been the most powerful man in the association. But then, just as quickly again, he was ousted. (1880s administrator)

93 Dan ORourke, Roscommon Revivalist

What Down were to the 60s Roscommon were to the 40s. They also seemed mired in mediocrity just years before their sensational breakthrough. In 1938 they were playing junior. By 1943 they were All Ireland champions and again in 1944, beating kingpins Kerry in front of 79,000 spectators, 10,000 more than had ever been at any other Irish sporting event. The side was loaded with brilliant players like Jimmy Murray and Donal Keenan, yet both would credit their county chairman and local TD as the key figure in their rise. ORourke brought Tom Molloy from Galway in to train them; Toddy Ryan to massage them. When the side went into collective training, theyd stay in ORourkes house and be fed by his family. A couple of years later ORourke, a Leitrim man by birth, would go on to become GAA president, blazing a path for Keenan to follow. (1887-1968)

92 Donal ONeill, Power To The Players

The Pandoras Box had been there for some time, but he opened it. A former IMG employee, he helped found the GPA and within a year would be kicked out of Congress and secured a national sponsor. Hes since gone away but it wont. (1972-)

91 Brian Whelahan, Man For The Big Day

Proof that being born in a county without a long tradition of success is not necessarily a prerequisite for hurling greatness. Last heard of scoring a goal for Birr while on one leg in the Leinster club final a few weeks back. (1971-)

90 Raymond Smith, Boswell Of The Munster Final

The pioneer of the modern Gaelic games book. Blazed a trail with his ghosted autobiography of Tommy Doyle in 1955 while a cub reporter with the Tipperary Star and was a one-man book factory for the next four decades: The Hurling Immortals, The Football Immortals, Decades of Glory... May have overdone the Hells Kitchen/dust-rising-in-the-square stuff somewhat, but no matter. (1932-2000)

89 John Joe Sheehy, Godfather Of A Dynasty

Sheehy was a republican on the run but such was his prowess at football, Kerry captain Con Brosnan, though a member of the Free State army, would guarantee his safe passage. And so Sheehy would pay into Munster and All Ireland finals, slip off his street clothes, play, and then at the final whistle, disappear back into the crowd. Considered by some to be Kerrys greatest player, Sheehy would win three All Irelands before serving as a selector and county chairman, but he would further bless Kerry football with his sons. Between them Seán Óg, Niall and Paudie would win seven senior All Irelands with Brian winning another at junior. (1897-1980)

88 Alf Murray, The 32-County President

Murrays mastery of the handpass from centre-forward was instrumental in Ulsters first Railway Cup success in 1942. By then he was also Armagh county secretary and would be a member of Ulster Council for 26 years. He became GAA president in 1964. Despite his reservations about coaching and his stern defence of the Ban, Murray was progressive. He launched the Coiste Iomána scheme to revive hurling and championed the local GAA club being the focal point of the community, with the social centre of his own Clann Éireann in Lurgan a prototype for all clubs either side of the border. He was very aware of the existence of that border and it was on his insistence that the term 32-county is in the charter of the Official Guide. (1916-1999)

87 Colm ORourke, Thinking Mans Footballer

The only rival to Larry Tompkins as the best footballer of the late 80s, ORourke was the strongest character on a team loaded with strong characters. Through his newspaper column which started in this paper, he was one of the first players to offer a real insight into the thoughts and fears of those who play the game. One of the great college coaches of the last 15 years, he continues to educate the nation with the most respected observations in TV football punditry. (1957-)

86 MIchael deering, Leading, Winning, Fighting

Theyve always been at it in Cork. Though born and reared in Limerick, Deering helped form the Cork county board and was soon its chairman. The hurling tournament he held in 1886 between clubs from Cork and Tipp triggered the introduction of intercounty competition but within 10 years he had resigned from Central Council and Cork had withdrawn from the GAA after it had refused to play a game against Dublin (sound familiar?). Indeed there was a fear Cork would set up an alternative association. For a year it awarded its own All Ireland medals, accepted affiliations from Waterford and Limerick and was also supported by Kerry. Soon though, Cork were back with Deering on Central Council, and after his adversary Richard Blake was removed as general secretary, he assumed the position of president. He would die shortly afterwards though, becoming the only president to die in office. (1858-1901)

85 Mikey maher, First Colossus Of Tipp Hurling

Captained Tubberadora to three All Ireland titles in the 1890s. Described as "a thundering man" by Carbery, the same scribe added that of the 100 All Ireland captains he had seen, Big Mikey took the palm "for inspired leadership and dynamic force in a crisis". His blend of ground hurling and Tipperary dash became the county template. (1870-1947)

84 SEÁn McCague, Mister Monaghan

He was an outstanding coach, leading Scotstown to three consecutive Ulster titles in the late 70s and then Monaghan to three Ulster titles and its first national league. As GAA president he eased through the removal of Rule 21 and secured a €78m once-off grant from the government, even if his handling of the Rule 42 vote at Congress 2001, when a flood of delegates were in the bathroom, was questionable. The Strategic Review Committee he commissioned was admirable if overly ambitious while the football qualifier system that himself and Páraic Duffy drafted up from the remnants of the FDC proposals was positively ingenious. His greatest legacy may well be bequeathing Duffy to the association. (1946-)

83 Dan McCarthy, Means To An End

In 1911 McCarthy declared that the GAA was "not a sporting organisation alone but above all a national organisation" which should want "our men to train and be physically strong" so that "when the time comes the hurlers will cast away the camán for the steel that will drive the Saxon from our land". McCarthy himself took up arms in the 1916 Rising in which he was seriously wounded. Yet interestingly, he was opposed to the Ban. GAA president from 1921 to 1924, hes the only Dublin man to hold the post. (1883-1957)

82 Eugene McGee, The Man Behind 82

McGee has a case for being the greatest manager in inter-varsity football history, guiding UCD to six Sigersons and two All Ireland club titles and influencing future coaches like John OKeeffe, Colm ORourke and Pat ONeill. He then dragged Offaly out of the doldrums to three consecutive Leinster titles and that glorious All Ireland. We might never have heard of Matt Connor only for him. (1945-)

81 Seán ONeill, Yes, We Can

As the most identifiable player on footballs most charismatic team, ONeill was to a generation of northern nationalists living in a dysfunctional Northern Ireland state an Obama-like figure; someone who told them that yes they could. Few though could play like the Down man while hed later be a successful Railway and Sigerson Cup manager and legal advisor to Ulster Council for decades. (1941-)

80 Pat Daly, Guardian Of The Games

To Joe Public he may be either an unknown or another Croke Park bureaucrat but Daly has transformed how the games at all ages are coached, by relentlessly organising courses and seminars and the Cúl summer camps the kids flock to. He was a key player in reviving the International Rules series while as a member of every hurling and football and burnout committee going, no one has been more instrumental in bringing in the backdoor, a three-tier hurling structure and a series of rule changes. (1957-)

79 Pádraig MacNAMEE, First Ulster President

The only president to serve four terms, he famously removed the countrys president, Douglas Hyde, as patron for attending a soccer international in 1938. He gave up the entirety of his annual leave as a teacher to go to New York to serve as the advance man for the smooth running of the 1947 All Ireland final but his most enduring contribution came via his chairmanship of the Commission whose investigation of the inner workings and future prospects of the GAA culminated in a ground-breaking report in 1971. (1896-1975)

78 Máire Ní ChinnÉide, Sister Doing It For Herself

Some of you will curse her upon hearing she was the editor of the memoirs of Peig Sayers, but anyone who has played camogie can be grateful to her. Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael was a radical concept, being one of the first womens sporting associations in the world, and Ní Chinnéide became its first president in 1905. The game was mostly played within university and Gaelic league circles then, with Ní Chinnéides Keatings branch of the Gaelic League credited with playing the first game in Drumcondra Park in 1903. (First president, Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael; Born 1879, date of death unknown)

77 Eddie keher, Assassin Of Assassins

In the 1970s he was the face of hurling, and an appearance on the Late Late Show duly marked his retirement. The greatest Kilkenny player of two generations, he created all manner of scoring records which even DJ couldnt quite reach. (1941-)

76 John Maughan, Commander Of Commando Training

Maybe he wasnt the greatest manager of the 1990s but Maughan was probably its most important. When he inspired Clare to that famous 1992 Munster title it made every county in the land question its place in the world and ask – if they can win, why cant we? – triggering Leitrims 1994 breakthrough in Connacht, the emergence of Fermanagh, Sligo and Westmeath, and very likely the backdoor itself.

With Mayo he became the first Connacht coach in 30 years to beat a Munster team and the first in 23 years to overcome one from Leinster, paving the path for Galway to bring Sam back across the Shannon in 98.

Above all, his commando-style training would define how teams would be trained throughout the 1990s. In the early months of 1992, a curious local would watch Maughan driving the Clare players up the hill of Shannon. If there had been no John Maughan, there may well have been no Ger Loughnane. (1961-)


75 Michael Babs Keating, Player, manager, raconteur...

Tipperary hadnt won an All Ireland for 15 years when Babs took over in the autumn of 1986. It would take another three years for them to recover the holy grail but long before then Babs had restored the countys pride – and changed their style by ensuring they put "a message on every ball". The first manager to tap into the potential of the Supporters Club, he can also take some of the credit for Galways breakthrough in 1980 as he had been with them the previous season. (1944-)

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74 to 50

74 Nick Cosgrave, Provincial Matters

In 1900 the GAA was so out of control, Wexford and Kilkenny were threatening to break away. Then Cosgrave, vice-president of the association and a Wexford man himself, and fellow countyman Watt Hanrahan, came up with the idea of provincial councils. Up to then there was no cup for winning your province. Whatever about its relevance now, the provincial system was critical in the promotion of the GAA in the 20th century. ( First Leinster County chairman)

73 Mick OConnell, Footballs Ring

Probably the most influential player of the past 50 years, as much for the idea of him as the actual footballer he was. It was OConnell whom all the golden years greats were trying to be like, ditto for Maurice Fitzgerald. Think of all the kids who have wanted to be Maurice. And so, OConnells legacy lives on. (1937-)

72 Frank Murphy, Three Strikes And Still Not Out

No rules revision task force would be complete without him there to round off all those loopholes; then of course he puts his Cork hat on and exploits them. Cork county secretary for 35 years, hes Congresss great watchdog, often preventing it from innocuously bringing in a motion it does not want. The introduction of a backdoor for the 1997 hurling provincial runners-up probably hinged on his inclusion on the recommending committee. The fallout from the 2002 dispute with the county hurlers defined hurling for the next four years but while he lost that battle, he seems determined to win the war. (1944-)

71 Justin McCarthy, Missionary Man

Not just a hurling coach but a hurling apostle. He wandered out in the world for years while others just stayed in their room. In an era when everything about hurling seemed to be raised to a calculus of higher, faster, stronger, his insistence on the primacy of the basic skills was immensely refreshing. He was a huge coaching influence on Clare and Ger Loughnane, a living god up in Antrim while his achievements with Waterford – three Munster titles with a county that hadnt won one for four decades – will be remembered long after the manner of his departure has been forgotten. Now with Limerick, hes the Mick ODwyer of hurling. (1945-)

70 Brian McEniff, Mister Donegal

No one else has coached Donegal to an Ulster or All Ireland title. He gave Sligo a helping hand in winning the 1975 Connacht title while along with Art McRory he has formed the most successful management team in Railway Cup history. A Central Council delegate for decades now, McEniff was one of the first advocates for the club championships to include a provincial and All Ireland series. McEniff was still two years away from winning his first Ulster and All Star when that came to fruition. He was that young, that good. (1942-)

69 Dessie Farrell, Lets Take Back Whats Ours

He won six Leinster titles, an All Star and an All Ireland, yet thats not how hell be remembered. Instead hes the GPAs first full-time chief executive and the first players representative to sit on Central Council. Whether you view him as public enemy number-one or the best friend players have ever had, Farrell has been one of the most recognisable and important figures of the early 21st century GAA. (1971-)

68 Hugh OReilly, For Gods Sake, Play The Game

Seamus Maloney was right when he wrote in The Sons of Sam that no one else has played such a major role in more Ulster All Ireland successes. He was midfield on the Cavan team that reached the 1928 All Ireland and was still there when they won the 1933 and 1935 finals and was Man of the Match in the latter. He was trainer to the Cavan teams that won further All Irelands in 47, 48 and 52. He issued each player a handout with 28 instructions, including such gems like Always mark free kicks; Dont hesitate to shoot inside 30 yards; Go out and win, but for Gods sake, play the game. Few played it and coached it better than OReilly. (1904-1976)

67 Seamus Darby, There Was A Goal In The Game

Many great goals have been scored in All Irelands but none can compare to Darbys in terms of importance or enduring majesty. The Offaly man was less than five minutes on as a sub when he rose with Tommy Doyle, caught possession before turning onto his weaker left side and arching the ball with incredible power and accuracy over and beyond Charlie Nelligans despairing dive. The brilliance of the deed itself is overlooked because of its greater iconoclastic significance. (1950-)

66 Douglas Hyde, The Uninvited Guest

During the build-up to the actual founding in 1884, Michael Cusack regularly sought the counsel of Hyde, a friend and colleague in the Gaelic Union for the Preservation and Cultivation of the Irish Language. As first president of the Gaelic League he was a key player in a cultural outlet whose members also tended to join the GAA at a time when it desperately needed new blood. Hyde also served as patron of the association but it was an honour that was removed following his attendance (in his capacity as the first President of Ireland) at a soccer international. That sanction would lead to embarrassment to all concerned and reopen the issue of the Ban. (1860-1949)

65 Joe Barrett, Greatest Leader Kerry Ever Had

In winning six All Irelands in the 20s and 30s, Barrett established a tradition of Kerry full-back play which Joe Keohane and Paddy Bawn Brosnan would proudly follow. It was his bravery in handing over the Kerry captaincy to Con Brosnan though which was unique. Barrett was an IRA man; Brosnan, a high-ranking officer in the fledgling Free State Army. By foregoing his right to lead Kerry, Barrett sent a signal to both Civil War factions that sport and the GAA should be above such bitterness. No wonder Martin Bracker ORegan declared him the greatest leader Kerry ever had. (1902-1952)

64 Peter Quinn, Business Man

It was Quinn along with Dermot Power who came up with the brilliant finance package for the new Cusack Stand that would see the whole cost of the project offset by monies raised from corporate boxes and premium seats. There was some resistance naturally but Quinn outlined how it would be the corporate honchos and their money that would allow an increased number of ordinary folk see the games. After his presidency ended in 1994 he would still serve on the Croke Park stadium committee and before ever chairing the Strategic Review Report he would become the first leading GAA figure to float the idea of the venue hosting soccer and rugby internationals. (1943-)

63 Seán Óg Ó hAilpÍn, Emblem Of The New Ireland

A fine hurler and a superb athlete, but so much more. Is simultaneously a modern professional, a poster boy for the merits of integration; a Cork northsider; an Irishman and part-Fijian, and unashamed to be all these things. One newspaper columnist recently floated the idea of him as a future president of Ireland but hed settle for peace in Cork first. (1977-)

62 Seán Boylan, The Steel Behind The Smile

Meath and Boylan did more than win four All Irelands during his reign. They shaped how football – its good, its bad, its ugly – was played for the guts of 15 years. (1944-)

61 Tom Semple, Father Of Tipp Hurling

Many similarities with Mikey Maher, Semple likewise being a great Tipperary captain and fine ground hurler. Led the Thurles Blues to All Ireland glory in 1906 and 08, thereby consolidating the cathedral towns position in the GAA firmament. A natural leader, a member of the Munster Council for many years, his name lives on, honoured rightly by the stadium that boasts the best field in Ireland. (1880-1943)

60 Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Coolest GAA Player Ever

More incarnations than a Hindu deity, from the adolescent skinhead terror of Galway in the 1973 All Ireland football final to the man who won five senior hurling medals to the father figure who led Cork back to the promised land in 1999. Crucially he was urban and therefore a natural object of veneration for the youth of Cork city. A modest and gloriously normal person who enjoyed soccer, rugby, coursing, greyhound racing and his pint in Moks. (1954-)

59 Larry Tompkins, Footballs First Professional

Thats how Pat Spillane described him. It was some compliment coming from Spillane, who had sweated oceans to get back from a horrific leg injury. No player though had ever gone to the Spartan lengths Tompkins would in his training and practice, and while the likes of Tohill, McGeeney, Cusack and Ó hAilpín would later bring a bit more science to go with the sweat, Tompkins defined commitment for the modern GAA player. (1963-)

58 Joe lennon, The High Priest Of Coaching

Lennon was a key player but it is as a coach and rules expert that the GAA should be indebted to him. At first though it was suspicious of him; in 1964 when Lennon wrote Coaching Gaelic Football For Champions as his thesis at Loughborough College and started running coaching courses out of Gormanston, president Alf Murray cynically referred to him as the high priest of coaching; a Westmeath officer claimed coaching was bad because not everyone could have access to it. Thanks to a pioneer like Lennon, now everyone has, while his expertise was invaluable in the redrafting of the playing rules in 1990. (1934-)

57 Donál Óg Cusack, Hurling Activist

Its too early to say, as Chou En-Lai might have put it, how far-reaching Cusacks influence will eventually turn out to be. But its been far-reaching enough as things stand, what with all these Cork strikes, the push for better conditions and the current training activities of the Cork Continuity Panel. Probably the most significant GAA player of his generation. (1977-)

56 Eoin ODuffy, Before He Put On The Blueshirt

Although hes now widely discredited because of his neurotic, fascist and alcoholic tendencies in his later career, ODuffy was once a hugely respected figure in both nationalist and GAA circles. At 20 he was Ulster Council secretary where his flair and organisational skills were clearly evident, particularly in Monaghan where hed recruited most GAA members to the republican cause. He became Michael Collins deputy chief of staff in the IRA, leading to all kinds of fun and games between himself and the British authorities. When the 1918 Ulster final was cancelled because of the army occupation of the match venue in Cootehill, the crown forces banned the playing of all sporting activity unless an event had a permit. In defiance, the GAA and ODuffy planned a flood of games nationwide – the army couldnt be everywhere – in which over 100,000 took part.

On what is commonly known as Gaelic Sunday, the RIC tracked ODuffys movements, something ODuffy was well aware of, prompting him to lead them on his bike on a 15-mile goose-chase around the boreens of Monaghan. He entered the 1920 Ulster Convention in disguise and slipped the authorities again on the way out. He would organise an Ulster final in Derry in an attempt to spring some Monaghan footballers jailed in a Derry prison, a move that would lead to a string of arrests and reprisal killings.

It was ODuffy who suggested the name of the new Breffni Park, secured a cup for the Council from a Dr McKenna which teams still play for today, while he was something of an ambassador for the GAA to the new Free State government. The influence he swayed as chief of An Garda Síochana rankled with others, particularly the inordinately high number of elite footballers that tended to be stationed around the border in his native Monaghan. However, it was only when he became deeply involved with the Blueshirts and Ulster Council reported a loss for the seventh time in his nine years as their honorary treasurer that he was ousted at 1934 Ulster convention. Gone but simply impossible to be forgotten. (1892-1944)

55 Jim Barry, A Gentleman Called Tough

Between 1926 and 1966, Tough trained 12 Cork teams to All Ireland titles, and co-trained another two. After Cork were knocked out in 1934, Limerick enlisted his services and they won the whole thing too. With a sporting pedigree more steeped in amateur boxing and swimming, he brought a forward-thinking and holistic approach to preparing players. A tailor by profession, he visited workplaces to talk to employers on behalf of his charges, demanded proper meals for his squads after matches, and, years before tapering became a buzzword, he was renowned for his ability to have them perfectly pitched for the biggest games. (c. 1891-1967)

54 Joe Kernan, The Gaelic Woodward

Before Kernan, Crossmaglen hadnt won a county in 10 years. Now only Nemo Rangers can dispute their claim as the greatest club team in history, their continued success since his departure after winning a third All Ireland a testament to the legacy he left. With Armagh, he set the standard for preparation in this century; the Cork hurlers wouldnt have been on such firm footing in their 2002 strike if Armagh hadnt been reigning All Ireland champions. That Tyrone and Kerry eventually eclipsed Armagh is among their greatest achievements just as beating those sides in 02 was Armaghs. (1946-)

53 JJ Walsh, Turnstiles And Railroads

In 1907, Walsh organised the meeting which gave rise to the Munster Colleges Committee that spawned the Harty and Corn Uí Mhuiri competitions. As President of the Cork County Board, he revamped the entire set-up to set the standard for all other counties. Turnstiles were introduced to improve gate receipts and, with the extra money generated, he purchased shares in the Great Southern Railway so he could persuade the company to better cater for GAA supporters travelling to matches. Imprisoned during the Easter Rising alongside Pádraig Ó Caoimh, he was Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when he oversaw the revival of the Tailteann Games in 1924. (1880-1948)

52 Cyril Farrell, Western Messiah

Yes, he may have lost as many All Ireland finals as he won. And no, there was nothing particularly easy on the eye about the running game employed by the Galway forwards. But Farrell, at just 30 years of age, didnt just end one countys 57-year famine, he demonstrated to counties like Offaly and Clare that they too had – in the title of his autobiography – the right to win. (1950-)

51 Lory Meagher, Prince Of Hurlers

Three-quarters of a century after the events they commemorated, Pádraig Puirséals word-pictures still have the power to tingle. Of Meagher he wrote, "In the days when all the world was young, tall and slight, lithe and lissom, his flashing camán weaving spells around bemused Dubliners on a sunny maytime Sunday at the old Barretts Park in New Ross long long ago". It was his brilliance that drew such unprecedented crowds for the 1931 three-game saga with Cork, his absence on the third day which ultimately decided it. (1899-1973)

50 Pat Spillane, Shooting From The Lip

Apart from being one of the greatest forwards and taking the art of long-range shooting to new heights, Spillane ushered in a new age by being the games first TV controversialist. Previously, punditry has varied between the "yerrah" approach and criticism delivered in extremely couched terms. Spillane took the gloves off and spoke his mind, with everybody from Francie Bellew to puke football getting both

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49 Jack Lynch, The GAAs TAOISEACH

On the night he was elected Taoiseach, a Dublin journalist asked Lynch why hed chosen to return to the Glen Hall in Blackpool to celebrate. "Sure in the name of God," he answered, "where else would I go?" He went back because he knew his political career had been an offshoot of sporting prowess that saw him voted centre-field on hurlings Team of the Century. After collecting six All Ireland medals in a row (five hurling punctuated by Corks 1945 football triumph), he became a poll-topping TD in Cork in 1948, a rising ministerial star in the 50s, and Taoiseach in a very troubled time. At the 1984 All Ireland hurling final in Thurles, 38 previous winning captains were introduced before the match. None received a cheer as long and loud as Lynch. (1917-1999)

48 Billy Morgan, Dalai Lama Of Cork Football

As a player, he was the heart and soul of the first Cork team to win an All Ireland since World War Two and changed forever the art of goalkeeping by looking for the high-percentage outlet pass instead of lumping any old ball out the field. As a coach he led Cork to an unprecedented seven Munster titles in nine years and four consecutive All Ireland finals, while, just like Kernan with Crossmaglen, Nemo Rangers success with and without him consolidates his claim to greatness. (1945-)

47 Seán Flanagan, Ill See You When Ive The Sam Maguire

In 1949, after another All Ireland semi-final defeat, the Mayo County Board abandoned the tradition of county champions automatically assuming the county captaincy. If Mayo were to win an All Ireland, Seán Flanagan from Ballaghadereen had to be captain. The first thing Flanagan did upon receiving the honour was to tell the county chairman that he was to keep the rest of the board away from the team until he had collected the Sam Maguire. Once, when the boards reverend president strode into the teams training camp while the players were having lunch, Flanagan told him, "Get out Father and Ill see you when Ive the Sam Maguire." Which he duly lifted the following September and the September after that again. Left corner-back on the Team of the Millennium, he would bring the team over to watch Arsenal and their counter-attack –"the first pass out of defence is king; make it long, fast and accurate; the space is there" – and the shadowing skills of Joe Mercer.

Just because Kerry were winning All Irelands every few years, he fundamentally differed with Dr Eamonn OSullivans gospel of zonal, catch-and-kick football, and, as Raymond Smith put it, "lashing the ball in the air, waiting for the roar of the crowd"; possession was king. A lawyer, he would later serve as a member of cabinet in successive Jack Lynch governments. (1922-1993)

46 Frank Corr, A Hurl Can Get You Killed

In July 1972 Frank Corr, a member of the Antrim County Board and a selector to the county hurling team, was driving home from work when his car was stopped by loyalists. The following day his body was found in the boot of the burned-out car; his crime being to have a hurley in the backseat. He would be one of 40 people to die in the north because of their involvement with the GAA but every member of the association up there would be affected. As Sambo McNaughton put it in his book, "Its easy to be a hurler in Tipperary; you can walk out with your stick and bag to training. But the lad on the Short Strand in Belfast, he wont be able to carry his GAA bag. Carrying a hurl out of a place like that is a statement. Youre telling everybody what you are and who you are." Something, as Frank Corr found out, that could get you killed. (1920-1972)

45 James Kelleher, Original Of The Cork Species

"Perhaps the greatest Roman of them all," swooned Carbery, who saw the Dungourney full-back in 26 major games and deemed him man of the match in all of them. May well have been the finest hurler of the first half-century of the association, hes achieved belated notoriety for his stinging letter castigating "that man – put in that position by the Gaels of Cork – who has never caught a hurley in his hand, never felt the sting of the ash on his shinbones, does not know what it is to be laid up". Exactly 100 years on and Kellehers words still echo on Leeside. (1878-1943)

44 Mickey Harte, A Different Kind Of Passion

By carefully nurturing the best underage team football has known, Harte not just delivered Tyrones first Sam Maguire but fundamentally changed how we think and play football. Under Harte, all attackers must be able to defend and all defenders must be able to attack, 360-degree football if you will, while his championing of a player-centred, process-oriented approach has shown the association and country how teams should be coached. (1955-)

43 JJ KEANE, A Hot-Headed Young Man

Described as above by the historian Marcus De Burca, Keane was certainly a controversial figure yet he could smoothen certain matters too. When Kerry proposed in the wake of the Irish Volunteers split that Central Council should include rifle-shooting among GAA activities, Keane persuaded his colleagues such action would only be interfering with the activities of the Volunteers. It was also Keane, a Dublin County Board official, who recommended and supervised the separation between the GAA and athletics. While athletics had originally been, to use PJ Devlins term, "the basis and impulse of the GAA", it had been neglected and with the 1924 Olympics imminent, Keane ensured it would have a new independent body, the National Athletics and Cycling Association, with Keane its president. (1871-1956)

42 Peter McDermott, The Man With The Cap

Famed for the moniker Micheál OHehir gave him, there was a lot more to McDermott than just the distinctive headwear he sported to control "my fabulous head of black long hair". He was the driving force behind the Meath team that won two All Irelands, two leagues and six Leinsters between 1940 and 1954. He is the only man to referee an All Ireland final both before and after winning one. He was county secretary as well as captain when Meath landed Sam in 1954. He was a key advisor to Down in their 1960 breakthrough. He was coach to the 1967 Meath team that won the All Ireland. The following year he started the link between Ireland and Aussie Rules by lining up games for the All Ireland champs tour of Australia. When the Compromise Rules series started formally in 1984 he was manager of the Irish team. A full life. (1918-)

41 Seán Kelly, Man Who Opened The Doors

Irrespective of ones views on the opening of Croke Park, it cannot be denied that Kellys handling of the situation was well judged, the ultimate proof of the pudding coming in the eating. Croke Park was opened, the PR battle was won in a landslide, life went on and – most importantly of all – the GAA went back to business as usual. Credit is also due to him for the introduction of the Ring and Rackard Cups, a rare and genuine hurling milestone, and the establishment of the DRA. (1952-)

40 Seán OKennedy, The First Dual Star

OKennedy won an All Ireland with the Wexford hurlers in 1910 before captaining the footballers to the first three of the four All Irelands they won on the trot. He was also county chairman having already been county secretary, and was effectively county manager too, cycling 50 miles to scout players and train the team. He was one of the first great exponents of the dropshot in hurling and the drop-kick and handpass in football. (1885-1949)

39 Tom Woulfe, The Man Who Saw Off The Ban

A founding member of Civil Service in Dublin, this Kerry exile managed the Dublin footballers in 1944 and established the countys first disciplinary board. However, he gained his place in history by leading the campaign for the removal of the Ban. A struggle that he began a decade earlier culminated in a seismic four minutes at the 1971 Annual Congress during which Rule 27 was finally deleted. Woulfe later put his shoulder to the wheel to repeal the prohibitions on RUC members and foreign sports on association grounds. (1915-)

38 Pat Fanning, President Who Saw Off The Ban

With the north going up in flames, he defused the incendiary device that was the Ban – though personally in favour of its retention – at that Congress in Belfast in 1971. It could have gone horribly wrong; Fannings wisdom and grace under pressure ensured it went gratifyingly right. Also instrumental behind the scenes in the success of the great Waterford 1957-63 hurling team. (1918-)

37 DJ Carey, Headline Grabber

Who ever thought theyd see the day when a Kilkenny hurler would have "a partner"? Not Drug Walsh or Lory Meagher, we can assume. But then who could have possibly envisaged DJ? The All Ireland goals, All Ireland failures, retirements, comebacks, dinners with Tiger Woods, the broken marriage, the new relationship with the multi-millionaire partner. A hurling life as soap opera. But still the most electric stickman of modern times. (1970-)

36 Seán McCarthy, Kerrys Last Great Unsung Hero

If its only in recent years that Tom Crean and Dr Eamonn OSullivan have been given their proper due, then this Kerry man is long overdue his. When OSullivan stepped aside as Kerry trainer in 1928 with tensions still simmering from the Civil War, McCarthy as county chairman stepped into the breach on the proviso it would only be for a year. It would be for four, with Kerry winning all four All Irelands. A founding member of Kerins ORahillys, he also refereed two All Irelands and, most amazingly of all, served as Munster Council secretary for 46 years. (1898-1977)

35 Michael Crowe, Uncrowned King Of Referees

It was this Limerick IRB man who proposed that the GAA buy and establish Croke Park as its headquarters instead of Elm Park in Ballsbridge but his real legacy was as a referee. Football was a crude, lawless game at the turn of the century but Crowe would travel tirelessly around the country for 20 years refereeing games to standardise the rules. He was successful, with his officiating of the 1903 Kerry-Kildare games prompting writers to dub him the uncrowned king of referees. (1900s)

34 Johnny Leahy, Boherlahan Brothers

Johnny captained Tipperary to two All Irelands and five Munster titles, served as county secretary for 21 years and represented Tipp on the Munster Council for 28. The year he died, his brother Paddy, a holder of two Celtic Crosses himself, became chairman of the Tipperary selection committee. Thanks to his astute management, eight All Irelands and 12 league titles followed. He died in 1966; Tipp have won only four All Irelands since. (1890-1949)

33 Seán Lavin, The Culchie And His Own Rules

As often as its overuse is maligned, the most distinctive skill in Gaelic football is its solo run. Kildares Michael Kennedy had made a stab of it in 1903 but it would take another 18 years for someone to try and pull it off. Against Dublin in Croke Park, Mayo and Kiltimaghs Sean Lavin – a national sprint champion and later, captain of the 1928 Irish Olympic team – came onto a ball at midfield and soloed within 20 yards before kicking it over the bar. The referee blew for a free-out; affronted by "a culchie making his own rules" but soon everyone was at it. (1898-1973)

32 Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Voice Of Gaelic Games

Apart from having a voice that immediately invokes scorching days in Semple or Croker, Ó Muircheartaigh played a crucial role in the reinvention of Gaelic games as cool during the Celtic Tiger years; t-shirts bearing his visage are common on match days. Most important though is the uninhibited joy he takes in watching games and his ability to relay that excitement onto listeners, be they eight or 80. (1930-)

31 Michael Davitt, Patron And Mediator

In accepting the initial offer to become a patron, the founder of the Land League lent considerable weight to the fledgling association. For a movement whose constituency was always going to be largely rural, there were few more impressive imprimaturs. In 1888 he gave a loan of several hundred pounds to cover the debt incurred by the American Invasion. Most significant of all, he was the mediator in the attempts to heal the six-week split following the 1887 Convention. (1846-1906)

30 Brian Cody, There Aint No I In Manager

Manager of the most successful team in hurling history and has reconfigured the parameters of the sport. Will every future half-forward line consist of six-footers? Will all future wing-forwards drop back on top of their half-back line on the opposition puckout? With former or current protégés bound to end up in management, his influence could endure for another 30 years. (1954-)

29 Patrick Nally, Cusacks Inspiration

In 1881 Michael Cusack was strolling through the Phoenix Park with Nally, considered the greatest athlete outside Dublin at the time, when they bemoaned how few people there were engaging in sport. Cusack would say that chat inspired him "to make an effort to preserve the physical strength of our race". But before the association was ever formed, the Mayo man was sentenced to 10 years in Mountjoy for treason. The day before his release, he died, with few buying the line it was of typhoid fever. Central Council would attend his funeral and 60 years later the corner stand in Croke Park would be named in his honour. (1857-1891)

28 CÚchulainn, Hurlings First Superstar

The inspiration for starting it all. As Setanta, sprang to prominence when burying a last-minute 21-yard free straight down the throat of Conchur Mac Neasas favourite hound to win the 10BC Ulster final. His Railway Cup battles with deadly rivals Connacht, managed by Queen Maeve, were a feature of the era. Married the original Wag, Emer. Like Prince, did most of his best work before he changed his name, a warning to future generations of hurlers to retire while the going is good. Probably not as good in the air as his namesake of the Ó hAilpíns but still features in championship advertising campaigns. (First Century BC)

27 Nickey Rackard, The Neutrals Favourite

In the late 1940s the prospect of Wexford winning an All Ireland in football was much likelier than the prospect of them doing so in hurling. But then the hurlers found supporting actors to fit around the man whod been carrying them for the best part of the decade; Rackard put them on his broad shoulders and dragged them the rest of the way. Hed haul in the crowds too, not just from Wexford but neutrals everywhere. (1922-1976)

26 Fred Cogley, The TV Revolution Starts Here

Cogley was head of sport in RTÉ when he was approached with an idea for Gaelic games to be covered on Sundays by a programme taking its cues from the BBCs Match of the Day. The national station had previously concentrated little of its resources on sport and more pertinently GAA was seen as more of a rural concern, but Cogley saw enough potential in the idea to give it his blessing. Its now impossible to imagine the summer without The?Sunday Game, with the highlights show setting the agenda for the week ahead. (1935-)

25 Charles Stewart Parnell, Unite And Divide

Holds the unique honour of both helping with the formation of the association and then almost shattering it beyond repair. By accepting the invitation to become a patron, he conferred instant credibility on the new body via his status as the latest "uncrowned king of Ireland".

However, his subsequent fall from grace did serious collateral damage to the sporting organisation. Already struggling, the GAA, despite maintaining official support for their man, lost more members and clubs during the dispute. Still, at Parnells funeral, 2,000 GAA members marched, carrying hurleys draped in black, holding them as if they were rifles. (1846-1891)

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24 Ger Loughnane We Are Going To Do It

Another who both galvanised and nearly split the GAA. "The most electrifying hurling figure since Ring," claimed his biographer and his biographer was correct. Ended famines, made monsters out of men and served as ringmaster of the circus – and what a circus – for the latter half of the 1990s. For a couple of months in the summer of 1998 he was the leading figure in the nations consciousness. (1953-)

23 Harry Boland, The Revolutionary

One of the most influential revolutionaries of the period, played for the Dublin hurlers in the 1908 All Ireland final, refereed the 1911 hurling and 1914 football deciders, and used his chairmanship of the Dublin County Board to push an IRB agenda. Also found time to work at the 1913 Congress and push for the wearing of county colours, and the establishment of 15-a-side games. Re-elected to office even while imprisoned by the British, he championed the expulsion from the association of civil servants who had sworn allegiance to the crown. (1887-1922)

22 Mick Mackey, Hurlings Laughing Cavalier

Limericks finest, king of the solo run, the man who hit five goals in the 1936 Munster final. Give him a ball and 50 yards of grass and away he went, men and ash plants bouncing off him. While his reputation as the greatest hurler after Ring is overdue a reappraisal, he showed generations of Munster hurlers the province didnt have to be just a Cork-Tipp thing. (1912-1982)

21 Maurice Hayes, The Master Behind Down

When Hayes assumed the position of Down county secretary in 1956, the county had never won an Ulster title. He set the goal of winning an All Ireland within five years. The East Down/South Down divide was overcome by running all-county leagues. Instead of the whole county board picking the team, it would be the remit of just four men. The team would have the first football tracksuits and wear black togs. They would beat Kerry by their constant off-the-ball movement, exposing and exploiting Dr Eamonns gospel of zonal football. And in 1960, they would bring Sam over the border for the first but not the last time. When Hayes was surprisingly overlooked as GAA secretary general in 1964, he focused on his career as a public servant but his football legacy lives on too. (1927-)

20 Thomas F OSullivan, Established Kerry And Ban

In 1899 the Kerry county board was virtually non-existent with no county championships. The following year OSullivan was appointed county secretary and by 1904 there were over 25 clubs in the county and Kerry had won their first All Ireland, never to look back again. The Listowel man would then serve on Central Council where his IRB leanings held great sway. Along with Pat Nash of Dublin he pushed Congress in 1903 and 1905 to adopt the ban on foreign sports and the participation of RIC and army members. A journalist by trade, he was effectively finished with the GAA by 1907 though he would write its first history in 1916. (1874-1950)

19 King John, Behind The County System

It was the 1210 visit of the English monarch to Ireland that spawned the delineation of the island into proper counties and bequeathed us the teams we live and die for today. So that his administration might get a better handle on the territory, Dublin, Louth, Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Kerry were declared counties. Meath, Kilkenny, Wexford, Carlow, Kildare and Ulster were considered liberties. The process continued in a piecemeal fashion for centuries until there were 32. Spare us the accusations of sacrilege and treason. The inter-county system is the gift of King John, sometime enemy of Robin Hood, and, by the BBCs reckoning, the 13th Centurys worst Briton. Hed be chuffed with this ranking so. (1167-1216)

18 Dr Eamonn OSullivan, A Man Before His Time

Between 1924 and 1964, he trained Kerry to eight All Ireland titles. He was the master of collective training. His book, The Art and Science of Gaelic football, was for decades the bible of football, detailing the history and skills of the game, how to build up team spirit, have your team fit and fresh for the big day, and most famously, why every player should remain confined to his own area of the field; Down would expose that notion as outdated but he would remain a key influence on Mick ODwyer. A psychiatrist by profession, he was the driving force behind Fitzgerald Stadium, with his own patients in St Finians Hospital helping to build it. (1897-1966)

17 PD Mehigan, Carbery

A veteran of two All Ireland hurling finals himself, Mehigans radio commentary on the 1926 semi-final between Galway and Kilkenny was the first live broadcast of a sports event in Europe. Using a nom de plume garnered from the West Cork barony where he grew up, his "Carberys Comments" column was a staple of the Cork Weekly Examiner for half a century while Irish Times readers cherished him as Pat O, the papers first GAA correspondent. A prolific chronicler of rural and sporting life in poetry, prose and books, his Carbery Annual was a fixture in households nationwide between 1939 and 1964. (1884-1965)

16 Fr Tommy Maher, Modern Hurling Coaching

When he took over as coach in 1957, Kilkenny had won one All Ireland since 1939; they proceeded to win seven in the 21 years he spent with them, while each of the countys 11 September successes since his retirement has been managed by a former protégé of the Gowran man. His credo emphasised mastery of the basics, retention of the ball and an awareness of space. A prime mover in the Gormanston courses of the 1960s he was the surrogate father of Offalys success, for Offaly made the breakthrough under his disciple, Diarmuid Healy. (1922-)

15 Msgr Michael Hamilton, Clare and Cavans good friend

The most influential cleric in the GAA since Archbishop Croke. Just as Crokes famous letter had to be included in the Official Guide, for years no Congress was complete without an address from Hamilton; even when he couldnt attend, his dispatch would be read out. One year Congress was pushed out until four oclock so Hamilton could get up after saying a mass back in Clare.

He was a major confidante of secretary-general Pádraig Ó Caoimh, and would be one of the most ardent and articulate defenders of the Ban after initially opposing it.

In 1937, as the last man to commentate an All Ireland final before the advent of Micheál OHehir, he made the mistake of declaring to the nation Cavan had won when it had actually been a draw, leaving a convoy of Cavan supporters bemused by all the bonfires which greeted them home. Ten years later he would make it up to Cavan by being the strongest advocate that the All Ireland football final be held in New York to mark the 100th anniversary of Black 47. He was the main instigator behind the Clare board buying Cusack Park and the staging of the first All Ireland colleges hurling final, between his alma mater St Flannans and St Kierans. Only right that the Clare hurling championship is named after him, a trophy currently held by his native Clonlara. (1895-1969)

14 Michael Hogan, They Shot Him Dead

What the posters advertised as a "Great Challenge Match" between the footballers of Dublin and Tipperary was just minutes old when British soldiers began firing. After the shooting had ended, two Tipp players lay prone on the field at Croke Park. Though splattered with blood, Jim Egan got up and walked towards a priest in the crowd, asking him to perform the last rites for Mick Hogan. The full-back from Grangemockler was already dead by the time the priest reached him. Thirteen others, some of them children, were gunned down that November afternoon in 1920 but as the only player to be killed, Hogans death resonated that bit more. The most-celebrated stand in the whole GAA is named after him but his enduring legacy may have been that his murder reinforced the opposition to deleting Rules 21, 27 and 42 for decades after. (1896-1920)

13 DICK FITZGERALD, King In A Kingdom Of Kings

He was the standout player in those epic 1903 Kerry-Kildare games, pointing one late free only yards from the corner flag. He was the first man to captain back-to-back All Irelands and win five Celtic Crosses before he was interned with Michael Collins in Wales. He rubber-stamped the decision that Kerry should wear green and gold, refereed a couple of All Irelands, coached Clare to one in 1917, set up street leagues, wrote the GAAs first-ever instruction book – How to Play Gaelic Football which Seán Purcell would call more or less The Koran. Fifty years before the birth of the national broadcaster, he was recognised throughout the country, footballs first superstar.

The Friday before the 1930 All Ireland final featuring a Kerry side to whom Fitzgerald was a selector, he fell off a roof in his native Killarney, only a year after his wife Kitty had passed away. On the Sunday thousands kneeled outside the church of his commemorative mass, Kerry would beat Monaghan by 18 points and years later the county would build a 50,000-capacity stadium in his honour, yet Kerry still feels indebted to Dickeen Fitzgerald. (1882-1930)

12 Kevin Heffernan, Heffos Army, Heffos Children

That a healthy GAA needs a healthy Dublin is a given these days, mostly because there was a time when it looked like the games in the city would wither to irrelevance. When the 1974 All Ireland semi-final between Cork and Dublin clashed with the last day of the Dublin Horse Show, RTÉs cameras opted for Ballsbridge. What Heffernan began that year changed things forever. The Dubs and their rivalry with Kerry was the making of the GAA. If David McWilliams was to write on the phenomenon of 75,000 watching the Dubs play Westmeath in a Leinster quarter-final, hed call it Heffos Children. (1929-)

11 Liam Mulvihill, Wise Árd-Stiúrthoir

By any standards, the GAA were exceptionally farsighted when appointing the schools inspector from Longford as Seán Ó Siocháins successor in 1979. Mulvihill provided a prudent pair of hands at the tiller as the GAA went through more and greater changes over the course of the next three decades (more fixtures, more competitions, much increased media coverage, sponsorship, the Croke Park redevelopment) than it had in the previous nine. Bonus points for his deft handling of the fallout from the 1981 hunger strikes too. (1946-)

[Square Ball]

top ten

10 Richard Blake, Soft Nationalist and saviour

The GAAs first great reformer. As general secretary in the late 1890s the Meath man lifted the ban on foreign games and the security forces, and following the damage caused by the Parnell split, explicitly declared the GAA was non-political and non-sectarian. He brought the All Ireland finals to Joness Road for the first time. Feeling football was "crude and imperfect and unworthy of the GAA", he instigated a series of reforms including the use of a standard size ball; linesmen to assist referees, a square around either goalmouth and the radical notion that any player ordered off should not return to the action.

Blakes reforms made football safer, hugely popular and arrested the decline of the entire association. But he had a rather haughty, authoritarian manner which alienated people. His non-political stance didnt even win back the church because he was openly agnostic. Cork and Limerick, in the figures of Deering and Frank Dineen, were particularly hostile to him because of his non-political views and his misfortunate officiating of the 1894 Dublin-Cork All Ireland football final. At 1898 Congress Dineen lambasted his financial management and he was duly sacked. As Marcus de Burca would conclude though, Blake was dismissed not so much because of any faults of his administration but because he was "soft on nationalism". (1857-1937)

9 Mick ODwyer, The Neverending Story

If he never stood on a single sideline as a manager, ODwyer would still have left a legacy on the game as he was one of the greatest of all Kerry footballers. It was that pre-eminence that allowed him to command such respect when he took over as a young manager to a young Kerry team in 1975. From there, he built a team that will be talked about for as long as football is talked about, famously working as hard on their minds as he did on their bodies. And he worked hard on their bodies.

Its his second life in the game that copperfastens his immortality. Apart from the obvious local effect of his successes with Kildare, Laois and Wicklow, he established a model for the missionary manager. And as often as Pat Spillane says that you could write ODwyers tactics on a postage stamp, it was his Kildare team of 1998 that were the first mainstream exponents of the blanket defence. That he never managed an International Rules team is an enduring stain on the association. (1936-)

8 Archbishop Dr Croke, The Letter Writer

His written response to Cusacks invitation to become the first patron was equal parts stirring manifesto, urgent call-to-arms and enduring mission statement. So succinctly had he captured the reasons why the GAA was being established that the first edition of the rule book recommended Crokes letter be read aloud at every annual meeting thereafter, just to remind everybody what this was about. The letter remains in every Official Guide every year. He also purchased prizes for early tournaments from his own funds, requested games not start until 2pm on Sundays to allow time for Mass, and played a vital conciliatory role in holding the association together after the Fenians hijacked the 1887 Convention. (1823-1902)

7 Pádraig Ó Caoimh, Architect Of Modern GAA

Described as such by president Alf Murray, this War of Independence veteran became secretary of the Cork County Board at 21, and he began a 35-year stint as General-Secretary of the GAA barely a decade later. Under his diligent direction between 1929 and 1964, campaigns were fought to improve and expand media coverage, to assist and educate clubs about the purchasing of their own grounds, and to enhance the marketing and advertising of the sports. During a relentlessly progressive stewardship, the membership numbers doubled, and Croke Park – where he lived with his family – was impressively rebuilt with almost treble the capacity of when he took over. Páirc Uí Chaoimh is named in his honour. (1897-1964)

6 Luke OToole, Mr Stability

Before OTooles appointment, the GAA had gone through six general secretaries in 12 years. With OToole theyd have one for the following 29 years. His full-time appointment in 1901 marked the start of a revitalisation of a GAA that had been perilously close to extinction. A native of Wicklow, he overhauled the troublesome finances and began transforming the movement into a cohesive and truly national organisation, replete with provincial councils. Croke Park was massively updated and enhanced, a spell that also included the introduction of the Tailteann Games. He also famously led and planned Gaelic Sunday, when over 100,000 members collectively engaged in civil disobedience by playing and attending games without a police permit. (1873-1929)

5 Maurice Davin, The First President

An all-round athlete of international renown due to his extensive achievements as a hammer-thrower and high jumper, he was the first man to reply publicly to Cusacks newspaper article promulgating the need for a new assocation in 1884. At the subsequent founding meeting in Hayes Hotel, he took the chair and was duly elected inaugural President of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes. The perfect amalgam of sporting celebrity and moderate nationalist, Davin appealed to all sections of the population and lent instant prestige and credibility to the new enterprise.

In 1886, he took on the mammoth task of drafting the first set of rules for football and had significant input to the revised constitution which was adopted a year later. The only man to serve two terms as president, he also resigned twice during power struggles with members more aligned with the physical force movement. He led the American Invasion of 1888, an ambitious trip involving over 50 hurlers, Gaelic footballers and athletes, it garnered plenty of publicity but failed in its intention to raise funds for the revival of the Tailteann Games. From wealthy farming stock, Davin allowed significant fixtures to take place on his land in Carrick-on-Suir, including Kilkennys victory over Cork in the 1904 All Ireland hurling final. (1841-1927)

4 Christy Ring, The Greatest

The Arkle, the Pele, the Bradman, the Jordan of his sport. Over 50 years after appearing in his last All Ireland final he remains the yardstick by which the best hurlers are judged – and by which even the very best of them in the meantime have been found wanting. Had star appeal and amazing longevity to complement his talent; the Railway Cups, indeed, have never recovered from his retirement. No player in either code in the history of the association has cast a longer shadow. Be sure the comment will be passed on to every promising youngster for the next 50 years: "Hes good – but hes no Christy Ring." (1920-1979)

3 Frank Brazil Dineen, The Greatest Gift

Once the fastest sprinter in Ireland, Limerick-born Dineen might just be the most under-acknowledged figure in association history. The only man to serve as President and General Secretary (1895-1901), this ambitious visionary paid £3,250 out of his own pocket for the existing sports grounds on Joness Road in 1908, years after he had ceased to be either president or secretary. As the writer Pádraig OToole observed, "his motivation was not to make profit but to hold the place for the GAA. By purchasing the site himself, the GAA could afford the luxury of planning future games for the stadium happy in the knowledge it would always be available to them when required".

He went into debt to do so after failing to persuade the GAA authorities it was a sound investment. Five years later, having had to sell parts of the land to the Jesuits in the meantime in order to stave off his debtors, Dineen handed the title to what would become Croke Park to the GAA for no charge. Repeat. No charge. He also had the pitch rolled and levelled, and had new facilities and stands installed for spectators.

He could sometimes be a contentious, confrontational figure. He was the main instigator in the removal of Blake as secretary, to the point Blakes book How the GAA was grabbed was initially entitled How Frank Dineen grabbed the GAA.

A journalist by occupation, Dineen edited and published the first GAA Annual and County Directory on the request of Luke OToole to promote the sports at a time when they received scant media coverage. In fact, when Dineen died on Good Friday, 1916, he was working at his desk as Gaelic games editor of Sport. Right to the end, he was giving to the GAA, the man who gave the GAA Croke Park. (1862-1916)

2 MicheÁl ohehir, Voice of the Gods

It began in Mullingar on 14 August 1938 when a Dublin teenager was given the Radio Éireann microphone to commentate on the All Ireland football semi-final between Galway and Monaghan. It continued for 99 All Ireland finals and nearly 50 years. OHehir, the voice of the GAA, was not so much a commentator as a phenomenon, spreading and popularising the games to an unprecedented degree by creating spells with his words and magically transporting his listeners from their sitting rooms to Croke Park and Semple Stadium.

If he viewed himself as part of the establishment and was not averse to a neat euphemism ("a right schemozzle," etc), that was both understandable and, for the era, acceptable, albeit not to Breandán Ó hEithir, who in his wonderful memoir Over The Bar decried his namesakes "folksy technique which seemed to be aimed at providing entertainment for hospital patients rather than giving a complete picture of what was happening". Demonstrated his versatility by commentating – superbly – on JFKs funeral in 1963, his tenacity in securing those extra five minutes on a US broadlength so the whole of Ireland could find out who won the 1947 Polo Grounds All Ireland, his finest moment in a commentary box occurred not at Croke Park but at Aintree for Foinavons Grand National.

OHehir will be with us for as long as many of the great GAA moments of the second half of the 20th century – Jimmy Barry-Murphy in the 1973 All Ireland ("And Jimmy with the ball, whats he going to do?") Bernard Brogan in the 1977 All Ireland semi-final, Mikey Sheehy in 1978 ("the greatest freak of all time!"), Seamus Darby in 1982 ("and there was a goal!") – are recalled. And that will be forever. (1920-1996)

1 Michael Cusack Founding Father

He was born, like so many people of his time, in humble surroundings; a small cottage in a small village called Carron on the fringe of the Burren, one of six children to a shepherd and his wife. He went on to become qualified as a national teacher, teaching all over the country, including in Blackrock College, St Colmans College Newry, St Johns Kilkenny and Clongowes before establishing his own renowned and indeed lucrative Civil Service academy in Dublins Gardiner Street for students preparing for entrance exams into the British civil service. By some accounts, it was there, in the current site of the Dergvale Hotel, that he imagined and conceived what would become the Gaelic Athletic Association.

It was borne out of his frustration as much as imagination. A good athlete in his own right and a national shot-putt champion after winning an event staged in Lansdowne Road, it irked Cusack that sport in Ireland was run by and for the benefit of the Anglo-Irish ruling class. There was no place or sport for the labourer, artisan, mechanic. The Protestant ethos did not allow for any play on a Sunday, the traditional holiday of rural Catholic Ireland. While he quite liked rugby and even played it, he criticised the elitist manner in which it was run and suggested that it and athletics should allow for a "strip of green across their colours". Instead, all sport in Ireland was being anglicised.

Cusack was also a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, and as he would write in the United Irishman, "In order to be a Fenian, I had to be a hurler." Though the game had been virtually wiped out during the Famine, he would recall playing it in his youth "with the goalposts a mile apart" and "more than 60 of us locked in deadly combat". To revive the game, he founded the Dublin Hurling Club and began campaigning for a new association devoted to "the preservation and cultivation of our national pastimes and for providing national amusements for the Irish people during their leisure hours".

He was heavily involved in promoting the Irish language – which was his only tongue until he was 11 – and was editor of the weekly newspaper United Ireland in which he contended any nation seeking independence needed to revive, promote and cherish its own indigenous games. And so he called a meeting of interested parties for the billiard room at Hayes Commercial Hotel, Thurles on Saturday 1 November, 1884.

There, Cusack, at the age of 37, was elected inaugural secretary, a job for which he felt uniquely qualified. "I believed that no man should fight the enemies of national pastimes but a secretary," he wrote, "and I knew no man able or willing to do this but myself."

He lasted just 20 months in the position, a spectacularly brief period during which, as he put it himself, the initiative "spread like prairie fire throughout the country". In his first year in office, hed brought his own boundless energy and manic organisational skills to bear. Athletics meetings were convened at short notice to give instant and headline-grabbing evidence the new body was a legitimate prospect. High-profile Gaelic football and hurling matches followed soon after as standardised rules were established for both games and, by 1886, clubs from different counties were competing against each other.

A famously truculent and outspoken character immortalised as The Citizen in James Joyces Ulysses (Citizen was a regular term by which he greeted people by), Cusack was voted out of office that year in a squabble about his bureaucratic shortcomings. Too many letters had gone unanswered. Too many accounts had not been kept up to date. He had to go.

Though no longer part of the administration, he then established Celtic Times, a short-lived newspaper devoted to diligently covering the association. Never again near the reins of power, he remained a committed member until his death and the brevity of his tenure doesnt diminish the most salient fact of all.

Without Cusack, the GAA would not have happened.

There is nobody else about whom we can say that. (1847-1906)

With Thanks To...

The works of Brendan Fullam, Eoghan Corry, Raymond Smith, Joe Mahon, Marcus de Burca, Seamus King, Donal McAnallen, Seamus McRory, Jim Cronin, Jo Jo Barrett, Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin and Brendan Ó hEithir were invaluable in compiling this list.

[ONeill]

Great reading there. Did I miss Sam Maguire and Liam McCarthy?

[ziggysego]

Great reading there. Did I miss Sam Maguire and Liam McCarthy?

Liam's there, but I didn't see Sam.

[pintsofguinness]

Cant believe I didnt make it.

[Square Ball]

Liam 112 but no Sam

[Square Ball]

Cant believe I didnt make it.

maybe you are a reincarnation of one of them POG

[Pangurban]

Every Man that ever mowed a field and every Woman who washed a Jersey

[ziggysego]

Every Man that ever mowed a field and every Woman who washed a Jersey

Well it's only 125 people Pangurban.

[ONeill]

Every Man that ever mowed a field and every Woman who washed a Jersey

Bit sexist there boyo.

[Bogball XV]

By county the totals are:
Cork 17
Kerry 14
Tipp 11
Dublin 8
Kilkenny 7
Mayo 6
Armagh 5
Limerick 5
Down 5
Wexford 4
Tyrone 4
England 4
Meath 4
Galway 3
Offaly 3
Kildare 3
Clare 3
Longford 2
Cavan 2
Derry 2
Roscommon 2
Monaghan 2
Wicklow 2
Waterford 2
Louth 1 (Cuchulainn, ahem, ahem)
Fermanagh 1
Antrim 1
Donegal 1
Laois 1

County is decided on by the county to which they determine the individual contributed most.