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Seán Purcell (17 December 1928– 27 August 2005), was a
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 at senior level for the Galway county team. Best known as a centre half-forward, he played in most outfield positions during his career. In 2009 he was named in the ''
Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...
''s list of the "125 Most Influential People 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 ...
History". Born in
Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...
,
County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
, Purcell was educated at Tuam Christian Brothers School and St Jarlath's College. He played in the St Jarlath's College side that won the
Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup (), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The competition itself is re ...
in 1947, beating
St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh St Patrick's Grammar School () is a Roman Catholic boys' voluntary grammar school in Armagh, Northern Ireland. The present‑day school was officially opened on Thursday, 27 October 1988, by the late Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, then Chairman of ...
in the final at
Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...
in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. His nickname "The Master" originated when he taught at Strawberry Hill National School in Dunmore. His footballing career spanned three decades, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Purcell formed a successful on-field partnership with Frank Stockwell at Galway, culminating in the team winning their fourth All-Ireland championship in 1956 and leading to their nickname as the "Terrible Twins". Further successes in which Purcell was involved include winning the League title in 1957, three Railway Cups, one of which he captained, the 1950
Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...
, appearances with the Combined Universities side and ten county titles with the Tuam Stars, including seven in a row from 1954 to 1960. His involvement in the GAA continued long after his playing days as he served in a number of positions as team mentor and administrator in Galway. In 1984, the GAA's centenary year, he was named on the GAA's Football Team of the Century and the organisation's
Football Team of the Millennium 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 ...
in 1999. In 1984 the ''Sunday Independent'' invited readers to vote for their Team of the Century. Purcell won more votes than any other player. In 1991 he was inducted into the All-Stars All-Time Hall of Fame. In 2003, he was named on the St Jarlath's All Stars team. Seán Purcell died on 27 August 2005, aged 76. His son, Robert Purcell, married Tessa Robinson daughter of former Irish President
Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senato ...
, in 2005. His grandson Simon Carr is a professional
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. Another grandson,
Sam McCartan Sam McCartan (born 1999/2000) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for the St Loman's club and at senior level for Westmeath county team. He scored a goal against Laois in the 2022 Tailteann Cup. He passed the ball to Lorcan O'Toole for a second ...
, has played Gaelic football at senior level for
Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...
. In 2022, his teenage grandson, Rory Purcell, died.


See also

*
List of people on the postage stamps of Ireland This is a list of people on stamps of Ireland, including the years when they appeared on a stamp. Because no Irish stamps were designed prior to 1929, the first Irish stamps issued by the Provisional Government of Ireland were the then-current ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purcell, Sean 1928 births 2005 deaths Gaelic football forwards Gaelic games administrators Galway inter-county Gaelic footballers Irish schoolteachers People educated at St Jarlath's College Tuam Stars Gaelic footballers