Dinny Allen

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Denis "Dinny" Allen (born 9 August 1952) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played Gaelic football with Cork in the 1970s and 1980s.

Dinny Allen was born in Cork in 1952. In a sporting career that spanned the best part of two decades, he is regarded as one of Cork's greatest sports stars. Allen played Gaelic football with Nemo Rangers in his teens and made his inter-county championship debut for Cork in the 1972 Munster Final against Kerry. In spite of ending up on the losing side Allen still made a huge impact on the game. At the same time Allen was also playing soccer with Cork Hibernians, going on to win an FAI Cup medal in 1973. He showed great promise as a soccer player, however, he remained in Ireland in spite of being offered the chance to play for Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. This involvement in soccer, however, was frowned upon by some in the Gaelic Athletic Association and it cost him an All-Ireland Football medal in 1973. In spite of this he captured a county championship title with Nemo Rangers. Allen returned to the Cork Gaelic Athletic Association set-up in 1975 and gave it his full commitment. His versatility as a player was well demonstrated once again when he won a Munster Hurling Championship medal in 1975. It was unfortunate for Allen that his senior inter-county football career coincided with the era of the greatest Kerry football team of all time.

Allen's skill didn't go unnoticed and he was awarded with an All-Star in 1980, the same year that he won his first National Football League medal. Cork and Allen captured a rare Munster Football Championship in 1983, however, in spite of Allen scoring two goals in the All-Ireland semi-final Dublin won a replay in which they thrashed Cork. Kerry reclaimed their provincial crown the following year and it looked like Allen's career was finished when he was dropped from the senior panel in 1986. He was recalled to the side in 1988 at the age of 36 and captured a second Munster medal. This victory was only followed by disappointment in the All-Ireland final when Cork were defeated by Meath for the second year in-a-row. Following this result Allen contemplated retiring from inter-county football, however, after another impressive campaign with Nemo Rangers, when he captured his eighth county championship medal, he was persuaded by Billy Morgan to stay on for another year. His decision bore fruit as Allen was firstly rewarded with the captaincy of the of the team, winning another National League medal and a third Munster Championship title. He rounded off the year by claiming the All-Ireland medal that he had spent seventeen years trying to capture.

Preceded by Tony Nation

Cork Senior Football Captain 1989

Succeeded by Larry Tompkins