Mick Gill

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Mick Gill (1899-1980) was an Irish sportsperson who played hurling with Galway and Dublin in the 1920s. He is the only player in the history of the Gaelic Athletic Association to have won 2 All-Ireland SHC medals in the same year.

Mick Gill was born in Ballinderreen, County Galway in 1899. It was an area that had a very strong hurling tradition even prior to the establishment of the GAA in 1884. In his youth Gill displayed a natural talent for the game. At 18 he played with his local junior club before progressing onto the senior team a little while later. Gill soon joined the Galway senior inter-county hurling team and made his debut at right wing-back in the 1922 championship in the All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary. The game itself wasn’t played until 26 August 1923 and Gill ended up on the losing side that day. His next outing with Galway was in the 1923 All-Ireland semi-final against the reigning champions Kilkenny. Once again the game was delayed and wasn’t played until 18 May 1924, however, this time Gill’s team beat the champions against all the odds. In the subsequent All-Ireland final against Limerick, played on 14 September 1924, Gill made a huge contribution at midfield and won his first All-Ireland medal.

Prior to that year’s All-Ireland semi-final Gill had become a member of the newly-established Garda Siochána. He was based in Dublin and, as such, played hurling with the Dublin team. He won a Leinster title with the side in the 1924 championship before later finding himself in another All-Ireland final following a win over Antrim. The 1924 All-Ireland final was played on 14 December of that year and Gill’s opponents were his own native county Galway. ‘The Dubs’ won the game on a score line of 5-3 to 2-6. Three months after winning his first All-Ireland medal Gill won his second and went into the history books as the only player ever to win two All-Ireland SHC medals in the same year.

In 1925 Gill won a second Leinster medal with Dublin, however, the team was later stripped of the title. In 1926 he still played hurling with Dublin but the side made an early exit from the championship. In 1927 Gill was appointed captain of Dublin and the team was back on form. Gill captured a third Leinster title before defeating Cork in the All-Ireland final to win his third All-Ireland medal. In doing so he became the first native of County Galway to win three All-Ireland SHC medals as well as becoming the second Galway native to lift the Liam McCarthy Cup. In 1928 Gill played hurling in the Tailteann Games, the Gaelic Athletic Association’s answer to the Olympic Games.

By this stage Gill was playing hurling with Leinster’s Railway Cup team. He played until 1931 but the team lost every year to Munster. Gill never had All-Ireland success again, however, he did win National Hurling League medals in 1929 with Dublin and in 1931 with Galway. He retired from inter-county shortly after. In a Gael-Linn poll in 1961 Gill was chosen to partner Kilkenny’s Lory Meagher on ‘the Greatest Hurling Team Ever.’

Mick Gill died in 1980, the year that Galway won their long-awaited second All-Ireland title.

Preceded by Seán Óg Murphy (Cork)

All-Ireland Hurling Final winning captain 1927

Succeeded by Seán Óg Murphy (Cork)

	Galway - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1923 (1st title)
1 J. Mahony | 2 T. Fleming | 3 J. Power | 4 M. Derivan | 5 M. Gill | 6 E. Gilmartin | 7 J. Garvey | 8 M. Kenny | 9 J. Morris | 10 I. Harney | 11 D. Morrissey | 12 M. King | 13 L. McGrath | 14 A. Kelly | 15 B. Gibbs |

	Dublin - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1924 (4th title)
1 T. Daly | 2 J. Bannon | 3 W. Small | 4 T. Kelly | 5 M. Gill | 6 J. 'Builder' Walsh | 7 B. Mockler | 8 P. Aylward | 9 R. Doherty | 10 M. Holland | 11 D. O'Neill | 12 G. Howard | 13 T. Barry | 14 W. Banim | 15 T. Finlay |

	Dublin - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1927 (5th title)
1 T. Daly | 2 J. Bannon | 3 P. 'Fowler' McInerney | 4 B. Phelan | 5 N. Tobin | 6 M. Hayes | 7 J. 'Builder' Walsh | 8 M. Gill | 9 J. Gleeson | 10 T. O'Rourke | 11 D. O'Neill | 12 G. Howard | 13 T. Barry | 14 N. Fahy | 15 M. Power |