Micheál O'Brien (June 1923 – 14 May 2015) was an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er and hurler who played at senior level for the Meath county team. Born in

Skryne Skryne or Skreen ( , or originally called The Hill of Acaill) is a village in County Meath, Ireland. On and around a hill between the N2 and N3 roads, it is 10 km south-east of the centre of Navan and 35 km north-west of the centre ...

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, O'Brien first played competitive Gaelic games in his youth. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of nineteen when he first linked up with the Meath senior team before later joining the junior hurling side. He made his senior debut during the 1942 championship. O'Brien immediately became a regular member of the starting fifteen and won two

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medals, four

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

medals and one

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

medal. He was an All-Ireland runner-up on two occasions. As a member of the

inter-provincial team on a number of occasions O'Brien won four

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

medals. At club level he was a six-time

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

medallist with

. His cousin, Paddy "Hands" O'Brien was also an All-Ireland medallist with Meath. O'Brien retired from inter-county football following the conclusion of the 1955 championship.

Honours

Team

;Skryne *

Meath Senior Football Championship The Meath Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association club competition between the top Gaelic football clubs in Meath, Ireland. Qualification for subsequent competitions The winners of the Meath Senior Football Champio ...

(6): 1941, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1954 ;Meath *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

(2):

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

(4):

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

(1): 1950-51 *

All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship was a hurling competition organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland. The competition was originally contested by the second teams of the strong counties, and the first teams of the weaker ...

(1): 1948 *

Leinster Junior Hurling Championship The Leinster Junior Hurling Championship is a junior "knockout" competition in the game of Hurling played in the province of Leinster in Ireland. The series of games are organized by the Leinster Council. The winners of the Leinster Junior Hurli ...

(1): 1948 ;Leinster *

(4): 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Micheal 1923 births 2015 deaths Dual players Skryne Gaelic footballers Meath inter-county Gaelic footballers Meath inter-county hurlers Leinster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football) Skryne hurlers 20th-century Irish sportsmen