Mick Lyons (Gaelic footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish name | Mícheál Ó Laighin | ||
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||
| Position | Full Back | ||
| Born | Summerhill, County Meath | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| Summerhill | |||
| Club titles | |||
| Meath titles | 1 | ||
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | ||
| 1979-1992 | Meath | ||
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Leinster titles | 5 | ||
| All-Irelands | 2 | ||
| NFL | 2 | ||
| All Stars | 2 | ||
Mick Lyons is a former Gaelic footballer who played for Summerhill and Meath. He won two All Ireland medals with Meath in 1987 and 1988 and has also won two All Star awards. He won the Meath Senior Football Championship with Summerhill in 1986. He has generally played at the full-back position for his county.
Lyons is from Summerhill, Co. Meath, an area close to the Kildare border. His grandfather Captain Pat Giles was a long serving TD for Meath. His father Paddy actually played against Meath in the 1949 Leinster Championship for Kildare. On the Meath team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mick played alongside his brother Paraic (corner back) & cousin Liam Harnan (centre back). He is also a cousin of another Meath football great, Trevor Giles.
Lyons made his Championship debut for Meath in 1979 against Kilkenny, playing at centre back. He became well known playing full back for Meath, following other notable Meath full backs Tommy "The Boiler" McGuiness, Paddy O'Brien and Jack Quinn. He was one of the central figures of Seán Boylan's All Ireland winning Meath teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Legend has it that on Seán Boylan's first training sessions as Meath Manager, Lyons told Boylan to "put your shyness in your a*se pocket."
Lyons won two Senior All Ireland medals in 1987 and 1988, captaining the team in 1987 (Meath's first win for 20 years), as well as five Leinster medals and two National League medals. He also played on the Meath teams which lost the All Ireland finals of 1990 and 1991. In 1984 he was part of the Meath team which won the Centenary Cup, a competition which was contested to celebrate the GAA's 100 year anniversary. He has won two All Star awards for the full back position in 1984 and 1986. Surprisingly, despite enjoying most of his success after 1986, he failed to get another All Star. Some put this down to his reputation as a "hard man" on the football pitch.
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