Donie Nealon

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Donie Nealon is a former Irish sportsperson who played hurling with Tipperary in the 1950s and 1960s.

Donie Nealon of the Burgess/Youghalarra club is regarded as a key member of the great Tipperary senior hurling team of the 1960s. The recipient of every major honour in the game he played in eight All-Ireland Hurling Finals in all, winning five of them in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1965. Nealon's skill on the field of play was recognised in 1962 when he was awarded the accolade of Texaco Hurler of the Year. Nealon was also an ever-present figure on the Munster Railway Cup side during the 1960s, claiming four winners medals in all. His honours also include a Fitzgibbon Cup medal for Hurling, a Dublin Senior Hurling Championship with University College Dublin and six National Hurling League medals.

Since his retirement from play, Nealon has continued to contribute to the Gaelic Athletic Association as an accomplished referee, selector to the Tipperary All-Ireland winning teams of 1971, 1989 and 1991. A keen tactition and student of the game, ever alert as coach and mentor, his late intervention during a break in play in the Munster Senior Hurling Final of 1971 in Killarney had a telling effect. On a day of incessant rain, he surreptitiously introduced a dry sliother for Michael 'Babs' Keating to use in a close-in free which the wily Keating converted to a goal. This spurred Tipperary to victory over Limerick after a titanic struggle.

An efficient administrtor, he has also served as Secretary of the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association from 1977 until 2004.