| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish name | Pádraig Ó Braoin | ||
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||
| Position | Right half back | ||
| Born | Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
||
| Occupation | Primary school principal (retired) | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| 19xx-19xx 19xx-19xx |
Desertmartin | ||
| Club Titles | |||
| Derry titles | 1 | ||
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | ||
| 1950-1960[1] | Derry | ||
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Ulster titles | 1 | ||
Patsy Breen is an Irish retired Gaelic footballer who played for Derry between 1950 and 1960. In 1958 Breen was part of the first Derry team to win the Ulster Senior Football Championship, and finished runners-up in that year's All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
Breen played club football for St. Martin's Desertmartin and is regarded as the club's best ever player. He won the Derry Senior Football Championship with Desertmartin in 1953.
He usually played as right half back,[1] and also played in midfield on occasion early in his career.[1] Breen went on to manage a number of teams after retiring.
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Breen is from Desertmartin.[1] After leaving primary school, he attended St. Patrick's Grammar School in Armagh.[1] He later attended St. Mary's University College and Queens University, both in Belfast.[1] He was a primary school principal in Moneymore for many years.[1] Breen served as Chairman of the Derry County Board from 1972 until 1975.[1]
Breen had little success with Desertmartin at underage level.[1] Desertmartin reached the 1951 and 1952 Derry Senior Football Championship finals, but lost both,[1] to Dungiven and Éire Óg respectively. However, in 1953 Breen helped Desermartin win the club's first (and so far only) Derry Senior Championship title. They defeated Ballerin in the decider.[1] Desertmartin were also beaten in the 1959 decider.
He also played for Coleraine briefly.
Breen played with the Derry Minor team before making his way onto the Senior panel.[1] He made his Senior debut in a 1950 Dr. Lagan Cup game[1] - ironically as a corner forward.[1]
In 1955 Breen was part of the Derry team that reached the Ulster Senior Football Championship final[1] for the first time in 34 years. They were beaten by Cavan by three points.[1] Derry reached the decider again two years later, only to lose by two points to Tyrone.[1]
In 1958 Breen was part of Derry's first ever Ulster Championship winning team,[1] beating Down in the final by four points (1-11 to 2-04).[1] On 24 August, Derry caused one of the biggest shocks in the history of Gaelic football[2] when the first-time Ulster Champions beat Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final 2-06 to 2-05.[3] They met Dublin in the All-Ireland final but Derry were defeated.[3] It has been claimed a serious of poor refereeing decisions in that game cost Derry greatly.[3] The 1950s was a decade of very high standards of football and was a very difficult era to win an All-Ireland, with the likes of Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Louth, Cavan, Meath and Dublin having very strong teams at the time.[3]
He played on for Derry until 1960.[1]
Breen's honours while at St. Pat's, Armagh include...
He also played football for St. Mary's and QUB.[1]
Among his managerial successes are leading Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa to four Tyrone Senior Football Championship titles,[1] including three in a row between 1971 ad 1973.[1]
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