Patrick J. McGrath (1941 – 22 March 2021) was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who played as a full-back for club side

Kilmaine Kilmaine or Kilmain () is a barony (Ireland), barony and village in County Mayo, Ireland. Village "Kilmaine", derived from the Irish language 'Cill Mheán', means The Middle Church – 'Cill' is the word used in the Irish language for a chur ...

and was a member of the

Mayo senior football team The Mayo county football team (;) represents County Mayo, Mayo in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Mayo GAA, the County board (Gaelic games), county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual ...

, before having a lengthy career as a referee and an administrator.

Career

As a player, McGrath played with club side

, and was a member of the Mayo senior panel in 1966. He also played at full-back on that year's Mayo junior team. He was a referee from 1965 to 1997. McGrath was also heavily involved in

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

administration, serving as President of the Connacht Council, Trustee of the GAA and Chairman of the National Referees Committee. He served as chairman of the Mayo County Board from 1997 until 2002 when he contested the presidency of the GAA.

Death

McGrath died aged 79 on 22 March 2021.

References

1941 births 2021 deaths All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final referees Chairmen of county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association Connacht Provincial Council administrators Gaelic football referees Gaelic games administrators Irish schoolteachers Kilmaine Gaelic footballers Mayo County Board administrators Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballers {{Mayo-gaelic-football-bio-stub