Tony Reddin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Charles Reddington, better known as Tony Reddin, (born 1919) is a former Irish sportsperson who played hurling for Tipperary in the 1940s and 1950s. He was named as the goalkeeper on the Gaelic Athletic Association's "Hurling Team of the Millennium."

Tony Reddin was born in Mullagh, County Galway in 1919. He learned his hurling skills on the family farm and soon became a member of his local Gaelic Athletic Association club. He played at centrefield on the successful Mullagh team in the Galway County Championship final in 1933. Reddin soon joined the Galway minor hurling team and later the county junior team. With the juniors he reached the All-Ireland final, only to be defeated by Cork. He subsequently progressed onto the Galway senior hurling side, as well as the Connacht Railway Cup team but had little success. Reddin moved to County Tipperary in the mid-1940s where he played club hurling with Lorrha. His skill was quickly noted and he soon made it onto the Tipperary senior hurling side in 1948. The following year Reddin won his first Munster Championship medal with Tipp, as well as his first All-Ireland medal. It was the first of three successive Munster and All-Ireland victories for Reddin and Tipperary.

Remembered for his wonderful anticipation, sharp reflexes and his vision, Reddin suffered from deafness and associated speech limitations throughout his career. In 1950 his ability to hear and speak improved when he got his first hearing-aid during a trip to New York with the Tipperary hurlers. In 1957 he visited New York again where he got a smaller hearing-aid. The hearing-aids helped Reddin as a goalkeeper, however by the mid-1950s his career was coming to a close. Shortly after winning his sixth National Hurling League title in 1957 Reddin retired from inter-county hurling. As well as these six league titles Reddin won three All-Ireland and Munster titles and five Railway Cup honours with Munster, where he played alongside his championship rivals Christy Ring, Tom Cheasty and Jimmy Smyth.

Long after his retirement Reddin was honoured by the GAA by being named on the "Hurling Team of the Century" (1984) and the "Hurling Team of the Millennium" (2000). In a position noted for the remarkable talents of players like Ollie Walsh and Noel Skehan, Reddin was firmly marked out as the undisputed number one goalkeeper in the history of hurling.

	GAA Hurling Team of the Millennium
1 Tony Reddin \| 2 John Doyle \| 3 Nick O'Donnell \| 4 Bobby Rackard \| 5 Paddy Phelan \| 6 John Keane \| 7 Brian Whelehan \| 8 Lory Meagher \| 9 Jack Lynch \| 10 Christy Ring \| 11 Mick Mackey \| 12 Jim Langton \| 13 Eddie Keher \| 14 Ray Cummins \| 15 Jimmy Doyle \|