Mattie McDonagh: The death last Sunday after a lengthy illness of Mattie McDonagh, aged 68, robs the Gaelic Athletic Association of one of its most decorated footballers. The Galway man was the only Connacht player to win four All-Ireland senior football medals and his achievement in winning 10 Connacht senior football medals is also a record.
Mattie McDonagh was born on January 24th, 1937, to Matthew and Catherine (née Kelly) McDonagh in the townland of St Brendan's, Ballygar.
Although christened Matthew, he became known as Mattie from a very young age. His parents were farmers and he lived in St Brendan's up to the time of his death, save for a period studying in Dublin.
His got his primary education at Ballaghlea national school, Ballygar, from where he progressed to Summerhill College, Sligo. A quirk of the GAA's boundaries allowed him to play minor hurling with Roscommon, but it was in the colours of Galway that he gained national acclaim.
A renowned Galway footballer saw Mattie McDonagh play for Summerhill College in the 1954 Connacht colleges Senior A football championship and later remarked: "I knew I had seen something special."
McDonagh studied to become a national teacher in St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, and it was while a student there in 1956 that he won two sporting accolades which he treasured deeply. At the age of 19 he played in midfield alongside Frank Evers on the Galway team which defeated Cork by 2-13 to 3-7 in the All-Ireland final. A crowd of 70,772 watched that game and McDonagh was proud that two other Ballygar men, Mick Greally and Jackie Coyle, were also playing for the county. That night, while the team was returning home with the Sam Maguire Cup, McDonagh walked the short distance to St Patrick's College, where he resumed his studies the following morning.
In the same year he played on the St Patrick's College team - Erin's Hope - which defeated defeated St Vincent's in the Dublin county senior championship final.
"He was so proud of that medal," said a member of his family, "because he always said it was as good as beating the Dublin team. Thirteen of that Dublin team played for St Vincent's."
In 1957, aged 20, he graduated from St Patrick's and was immediately appointed principal of Gortnageve national school, a one-teacher school near Glenamaddy, Co Galway. He remained there until the mid-1980s, when Gortnageve was closed and pupils and teachers moved to the nearby Creggs national school.
He was appointed principal of Creggs, which meant he was a principal right through his teaching career until retirement.
Mattie McDonagh was an icon of Gaelic football throughout the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only survivor from the 1956 Galway team to go on to play with the Galway three-in-a-row sides of the 1960s (1964-66).
That Galway team is rated among the best to have played Gaelic football and McDonagh was a father-figure in it. He moved from midfield to centre half forward and assumed the leadership role which Seán Purcell had carried out for Galway during the previous decade and a half.
As a footballer, he possessed great strength, but colleagues and opponents acknowledged that he never put that strength to mischievous use. He was also strikingly handsome. "He carried himself well, his posture was impressive, he walked tall with his chest out," wrote one highly regarded chronicler of Galway football. "He had the aura of a sporting giant."
McDonagh scored Galway's only goal of the three-in-a-row finals, coming on to a Cyril Dunne cross to finish with his weaker left foot against Meath in 1966. Television footage has preserved the image of the powerfully built McDonagh racing back after scoring the goal while the Galway fans were celebrating wildly in the background.
In 1966 he was named Texaco Gaelic Footballer of the Year, the highest individual accolade available to a player at that time. He also won two National League titles (1956 and 1965) and a Railway Cup medal with Connacht in 1958.
When his playing days were over, McDonagh became involved in team management. He guided Galway to the 1981 National Football League title and the 1982 and 1983 Connacht championships. The 1983 campaign ended in painful defeat for Galway when Dublin beat them in the All-Ireland final, despite Dublin being reduced to 12 men during a fractious match. Galway only lost one man to a sending-off that day and McDonagh took much of the criticism after the defeat.
However, he was back on the sideline in Croke Park just three years later as a selector on the Galway team which won the All-Ireland minor title.
Galway have not won an All-Ireland minor title since.
Galway's successes in the 1998-2001 era gave him great joy. An RTÉ broadcaster recalls tears streaming down McDonagh's face just minutes after the final whistle in the 1998 All-Ireland final, when Galway beat Kildare. For many of the three-in-a-row team, that 1998 win was a relief, as it ended the long barren spell going back to the day McDonagh scored the crucial goal in 1966.
McDonagh played many sports, including badminton, racquetball and snooker. He enjoyed soccer and was a keen Manchester United fan.
He played golf and cards regularly, both with his trademark enthusiasm, and he was a member of Mountbellew and Athlone golf clubs.
"He once promised, when he was in hospital, that he would play golf every fine day after he came out, and he more or less kept to that promise," said a family member.
He had a wicked sense of humour and, in the words of one friend, a "magnetic personality".
Former footballers and hurlers from all over Ireland, ranging from stars of the 1950s to the present day, turned out to pay their respects at the funeral.
McDonagh married Kathleen Brennan, also from Ballygar, on May 18th, 1967. He is survived by Kathleen; sons Mark and Shane; daughters Joanne and Karina; and sisters Nellie Holian, Mary Goodwin and Bridie Ryan.
Mattie McDonagh: born January 24th 1937; died April 10th 2005.