QUINN UNITES CHURCH AS LEITRIM RIP UP THE SCRIPT
IN 1990, Mickey Quinn won an All Star award at midfield ahead of Meath pair, Gerry McEntee and Liam Hayes, Dublin duo, Paul Clarke and Dave Foran, Donegal’s Anthony Molloy and Brian Murray, Cork All-Ireland medal winner, Danny Culloty and Roscommon’s John Newton, all of whom played on much more successful teams.
It was quite an achievement for the Aughawillan man, but then he was a contender most years, but always lost out to opponents who featured on teams whose seasons lasted longer into the summer. The All Star selectors deviated from that script in 1990, choosing Quinn and Kevin O’Brien (Wicklow).
All Star teams almost always attract criticism, but there were few complaints about either Quinn’s or O’Brien’s selections.
Quinn’s achievement in becoming the first Leitrim All Star award was even lauded off the pulpit in his local church.
“Fr O’Sullivan went on about it for five minutes on the altar on Sunday and afterwards it was like a wedding with everyone shaking my hand,” Quinn told John Connolly in the Leitrim Observer.
The All Star award was won in his ninth inter-county season and he was still a very influential figure when an even greater prize – Leitrim’s first Connacht title for 67 years – came his way four years later.
That remarkable campaign, presided over by manager John O’Mahony, produced Leitrim’s second All Star, this time a 20-year-old who beat a
formidable field to land the full-back slot. Séamus Quinn, who O’Mahony described in his autobiography, as “one of the most naturally athletic footballers I ever worked with” was only in his second season when Leitrim embarked on a historic run, which electrified the county as they beat Galway, Roscommon and Mayo to land the provincial title. Quinn’s brilliance at full-back was crucial to a title success that’s still fondly remembered in Leitrim (bridging a gap back to 1927).
Third choice, Mickey Martin brought a swashbuckling style to a career that spanned three decades but unfortunately it ended before the 1994 Nestor Cup success, which was led by captain, Declan Darcy, who takes fourth place.