Angela Downey

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Personal information
Angela Downey
Sport	Camogie
Full name	Angela Downey-Browne
Place of birth	Kilkenny , Ireland
Club information
Club	St. Paul's Lisdowney
Position	Corner-forward
Inter-County
County	Kilkenny
Position	Corner-forward
Inter-County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Kilkenny	1972-1994
Senior Inter-County Titles
Leinster Titles	14
All-Ireland	12
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of .

Angela Downey-Browne (born 1957) is a former Irish sportsperson who played senior camogie with Kilkenny from 1970 until 1995. She is regarded as the one of the greatest players of all-time.^{[citation needed]}

1 Early life
2 Playing career
- 2.1 Club
- 2.2 Inter-county
3 Retirement
4 References

[edit] Early life

Angela Downey was born in Kilkenny in 1957. From a young age camogie was a central part of her life, as well as the life of her twin sister Ann. The Downey’s inherited their camogie skills from their father, Shem Downey, who won an All-Ireland medal with Kilkenny in 1947. Angela Downey started playing camogie when she was nine years-old and, in time, she would go on to become one of the best players in the history of the game.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

Downey played most of her club camogie with the famed St. Paul's club in Kilkenny. When the club disbanded in 1990 she became a player with Lisdowney. In all Downey won 22 Kilkenny county camogie titles, 20 of which were won with St. Paul’s. She also won 6 All-Ireland club titles.

[edit] Inter-county

Downey was a mere thirteen years-old when she first played senior camogie with Kilkenny in 1970. Two years later in 1972 she played against Cork in her first All-Ireland final, however, victory went to the Munster ladies on that occasion. In 1974 Downey finally captured her first All-Ireland medal. Two years later in 1976 she captured her second All-Ireland title, adding a third in 1977 when she was captain. Downey won her fourth All-Ireland medal in 1981.

From 1985 to 1991 Kilkenny set a new record in the All-Ireland camogie championship by winning seven titles in-a-row. Naturally Downey played a key role in all those victories, captaining the winning sides in 1988, 1989 and 1991 and bringing her own personal All-Ireland medal tally up to eleven. This tally was increased to twelve in 1994 when Kilkenny won the All-Ireland title once again. Her camogie prowess was subsequently acknowledged when she was named Camogie Player of the Year. In 1995 Downey played in her fourteenth All-Ireland final. Once again she was captain and just like her first All-Ireland final in 1972 Cork emerged victorious by four points. Following this defeat Downey retired from inter-county camogie.

Downey’s other honours include 10 inter-provincial titles with Leinster and 8 National Camogie League titles. In 1986 she became only the third camogie player ever to win a Texaco Award.

[edit] Retirement

In retirement Downey’s reputation as one of the greatest players of all-time has grown. Her haul of twelve All-Ireland medals is surpassed by two other all-time greats, Úna O'Connor and Kathleen Mills. In 2004 Downey was named in the left corner-forward position on a special team picked to celebrate the centenary of Cumann Camogaiochta na nGael. Controversially Downey boycotted the Team of the Century presentation in protest at the absence of her twin sister, Ann, from the team.

Preceded by Mary Fennelly (Kilkenny)	All-Ireland Camogie Final winning captain 1977	Succeeded by Nancy O’Driscoll (Cork)
Preceded by Bridie McGarry (Kilkenny)	All-Ireland Camogie Final winning captain 1988	Succeeded by Ann Downey (Kilkenny)
Preceded by Breda Holmes (Kilkenny)	All-Ireland Camogie Final winning captain 1991	Succeeded by Sandy Fitzgibbon (Cork)

	Camogie Team of the Century (2004)
1 Eileen Duffy-O'Mahoney \| 2 Liz Neary \| 3 Marie Costine-O'Donovan \| 4 Mary Sinnott-Dinan \| 5 Sandie Fitzgibbon \| 6 Bridie Martin-McGarry \| 7 Margaret O'Leary-Leacy \| 8 Mairéad McAtanmey-Magill \| 9 Kathleen Mills-Hill \| 10 Linda Mellerick \| 11 Pat Moloney-Lenihan \| 12 Úna O'Connor \| 13 Sophie Brack \| 14 Deirdre Hughes \| 15 Angela Downey-Browne \|