Leonard John McGrath (1899 – December 1949) was an Irish dual player who played both

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

for

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. Born in Charters Towers,

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, McGrath came to

with his family in his youth. He made his first impression on the inter-county scene when he was a member of the Galway senior hurling team for the 1923 championship. McGrath won an All-Ireland medal that year as Galway secured their first hurling title. Two years later he won an All-Ireland medal with the

Galway senior football team The Galway county football team ( ) represents Galway in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Galway GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All- ...

. At club level McGrath played with Mullagh and St Grellan's. He also played rugby, which earned him an expulsion from the GAA under

Rule 27 Rule 27 of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), also known as "the Ban", was a rule in force from 1905 to 1971 that banned members of the GAA from playing or watching other sports such as rugby, soccer or hockey. The rule The text of Rule 27

. His medal collection was auctioned in 2020."Unique GAA medal collection up for auction"
24 April 2020.

References

1899 births 1949 deaths Australian farmers Australian Gaelic footballers Australian hurlers Irish people of Australian descent Dual players Gaelic footballers who switched code Galway inter-county hurlers Galway inter-county Gaelic footballers Irish farmers Mullagh hurlers St Grellan's Gaelic footballers {{Galway-hurling-bio-stub