Noel Lane

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Noel Lane (born 1954) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with the great Galway team of the 1980s and also served as manager.

Noel Lane was born in Ballyglass, County Galway in 1954. He was educated locally at Ballyglass National School where he first came into contact with hurling. He later attended Our Lady's College in Gort where he played in an All-Ireland Colleges hurling final but lost. In spite of being a skilled hurler Lane's heroes were the Galway Gaelic football side that completed the three-in-a-row between 1964 and 1966. He joined his local Ballinderreen GAA club and is hurling career began. Lane was soon spotted by the Galway inter-county hurling selectors and made his debut in a National Hurling League game in 1977. Later that same year he played in his first County Final but ended up on the losing side. In 1979 Galway managed to get as far as the All-Ireland hurling final, however, they lost out to Kilkenny. In spite of this Lane scored a goal in the final that was named the "Goal of the Year." In 1980 Lane had much success. He won a Railway Cup medal with Connacht, before winning his first senior All-Ireland medal with a win over Limerick.

Galway were back in the final in 1981, however, they lost again in spite of Lane scoring a goal. Back-to-back Railway Cup successes came in 1982 and 1983, with Lane also picking up two All-Star Awards. Galway faced a number of frustrating years losing two consecutive All-Ireland finals in 1985 and 1986. There was some consolation for Lane in 1986 as he capatined Connacht to victory in the Railway Cup. In 1987 Galway were back in the final, however, this time they easily disposed of Kilkenny. Lane came on as a sub and collected his second All-Ireland medal. He also won another railway Cup title as well as his first National Hurling League honour. In 1988 Lane came on as a "super-sub" in the All-Ireland final to help Galway clinch back-to-back titles. Another National Laegue medal was won by Lane in 1989, before facing defeat in another All-Ireland decider in 1990. Following this loss to Cork, Lane retired from inter-county hurling. In eleven years he had played in eight All-Ireland finals. In retirement Lane was appointed manager of the Galway senior hurlers. He resigned in 2002 after little success.

Preceded by: Mattie Murphy

Galway Senior Hurling Manager 2001-2002

Succeeded by: Conor Hayes