Anthony Davis (born 29 November 1964), better known as Tony Davis, is an Irish former

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 ...

coach, retired player and former

sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

. His

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

career at senior level with the Cork county team spanned ten seasons from 1984 to 1994. Born in

Skibbereen Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. Located ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Davis first played competitive Gaelic football at St Fachtna's De La Salle College. Here he won a

Corn Uí Mhuirí Corn Uí Mhuirí is the cup presented to the winners of the Munster colleges senior "A" football championship, the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools in Munster. The winners advance to the Hogan Cup, which is the All-Ire ...

medal in 1982, however, an

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medal remained elusive. He first appeared for the O'Donovan Rossa club at juvenile and underage levels, before winning a county under-21 championship medal in 1984. A county intermediate championship medal was won in 1985, before Davis won a county senior championship medal in 1992. This victory was followed by a

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

medal before Davis won an

medal with the club in 1993, along with his brother Pat, who suffered a horrific injury in the semi-final against Lavey. At wing forward, Pat was the shining star on the club team. Pat later went on to captain the Cork team in a National League clash against Meath. Davis made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was selected for the Cork minor team. He had two championship seasons with the minor team, culminating with the winning of an

medal in 1981. Davis subsequently joined the Cork under-21 team, winning back-to-back

medals in 1984 and 1985. He also won an

medal with the junior team in 1984. By this stage Davis had also joined the Cork senior team, making his debut during the 1984-85 league. Over the course of the next ten years, he won back-to-back

medals in 1989 and 1990. Davis also won seven

medals and one

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

medal. He played his last game for Cork in August 1994. Towards the end of his career Davis was joined on the Cork team by his brother, Pat Davis and Don. After being chosen on the

inter-provincial team for the first time in 1987, Davis was a regular on the starting fifteen for a number of years. During that time he lost four

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

finals. In retirement from playing Davis combined his policing career with a new position as a sports broadcaster and as a coach. His media career began with

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

in 1995, where he acted as a co-commentator and studio analyst with the flagship programme ''

The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1 ...

''. Davis stepped down from this position in 2013. During this time he also served as a coach with the

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

team. He no longer follows the game with the same enthusiasm, telling the ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is ...

'' in 2020: "I watch quite a bit of football, but in fairness I wouldn't as au fait as I used to be with all the players on the Antrim and Carlow panels, for instance. The games I'd find interesting I watch — the likes of Dublin, Kerry, Galway, Donegal, and if Cork were playing at home I'd head to watch them".

Career statistics

Honours

;St Fachtna's College *

(1): 1982 ;O'Donovan Rossa *

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football tournament which began in season 1970–71. It is the top-tier competition for the senior football clubs of Ireland and London. The current champions are Cuala of D ...

(1): 1993 *

Munster Senior Club Football Championship The Munster Senior Club Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Munster GAA Football Senior Club Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition for the champion clubs of each county. It has been organised by the ...

(1): 1992 *

Cork Senior Football Championship The Cork Premier Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the McCarthy Insurance Group Cork Premier Senior Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PSFC) is an annual club Gaelic football competition organised by t ...

(1): 1992 *

Cork Intermediate Football Championship The Cork Intermediate A Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as McCarthy Insurance Group Cork County Intermediate A Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork IAFC) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the ...

(1): 1985 ;Cork *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

(2):

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Associatio ...

(7):

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

(1): 1988–89 *

All-Ireland Junior Football Championship The All-Ireland Junior Football Championship is a Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA competition It has historically consisted of two entirely different formats before and after 2021, but has retained the same name. Since 2022, the competition ...

(1): 1984 *

Munster Junior Football Championship The Munster Junior Football Championship is a gaelic football tournament between the six counties of Munster GAA, Munster: Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare and Waterford. It is the third-tier county teams playing off in a single-elimination ...

(1): 1984 *

All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship The GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the EirGrid GAA Football Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association ...

(2): 1984, 1985 (c) *

Munster Under-21 Football Championship The Munster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest ...

(2): 1984, 1985 (c) *

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it was replaced by an under ...

(1):

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

Munster Minor Football Championship The Munster Minor Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1928 for the youngest competitors (under-18) in the province of Munster in Ireland. It is ...

(1):

References

External links

"Michael Moynihan speaks with Tony Davis about the state of play in the GAA today"
''

''. 23 May 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Tony 1964 births Living people Cork inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football backs Gaelic football managers Gaelic games commentators Garda Síochána officers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers O'Donovan Rossa (Cork) Gaelic footballers Broadcasters from County Cork Police officers from County Cork