Sam Maguire
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||
| Position | – | ||
| Born | 12 March 1877 County Cork, Ireland |
||
| Died | 6 February 1927 (aged 49) | ||
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | ||
| ?-? |
London Cork |
||
Samuel "Sam" Maguire (12 March 1877 – 6 February 1927), an Irish republican and Gaelic footballer, is chiefly remembered as the eponym of the Sam Maguire Cup, given to the All-Ireland Senior Champions of Gaelic football.
He was born in the townland of Mallabraca near the town of Dunmanway in West Cork on March 12, 1877 and was a member of the Church of Ireland
He had four brothers and two sisters. Willie was the eldest then Mary, Jack, Dick, Paul (who married a Roman Catholic and whose son became a Roman Catholic priest), Sam and Elizabeth. The Maguires farmed 200 acres (0.81 km2) of land. However this figure is misleading as only approximately 80 acres were arable land. The translation of the townland Mallabraca is "land of the little hillocks", Today, 2016, most of the land is devoted to forestry. In Ireland, forestry is usually planted on less fertile land.
He went to school in the Model School in the local town Dunmanway and then to the national school in Ardfield.This school run by Master Madden specialised in preparing its pupils for the UK Civil Service and Post Office examinations. Madden was part of a long tradition of Irish nationalism and he had a field next to the school where pupils could play Gaelic football. The school was very successful and became known as the "University of the Mountains" because the place name Ardfield can be literally translated as the "place on the high ground". At the age of 20, Maguire passed the exams for the UK Post Office
It is frequently suggested that this is the same school Michael Collins later attended, but this is contradicted by the best local historian of the school.
He then took a job in the British Civil Service in London. Maguire joined and captained the successful London Hibernians Gaelic football team to several All-Ireland finals between 1900 and 1904.
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