Michael Rory "Mickey" Linden is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er who played for Down in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. He was part of the Down team that won the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. Linden also won two

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

s and a

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

title with Down. In 1994 he also won an All Star award and named

Texaco Footballer of the Year The Texaco Footballer of the Year was a Gaelic football award, created in 1958, that honoured the achievements of a footballer of outstanding excellence. The award was part of the Texaco Sportstars Awards, in which Irish sportspeople from all f ...

. He usually played as a corner forward. He was renowned for his speed, "electrifying skills", turn of foot and accuracy in front of the posts with both feet. He "tore defences apart with his pace and scoring power" and "took the best back lines to the cleaners". Linden is among the top twenty all-time top Ulster scorers in Championship football. His understanding with Down play-maker

Greg Blaney Greg Blaney is an Irish dual player who played Gaelic football and hurling for Down in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of the Down team that won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1991 and 1994. Blaney won three Ulster Senior Fo ...

has been described as "near telepathic". Linden is known as one of the Down's best ever footballers. In 2009 ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its view ...

'' named him as one of the all-time best 125 footballers from Ulster, to mark the 125th anniversary of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

Personal life

Linden is from

Mayobridge Mayobridge () is a village within Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland, lying on the small river Clanrye which divides the townlands of Mayo and Bavan. It is located within the Newry and Mourne District Council area - it had a population of 1,069 ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. He lives with his wife Louisa and his three sons, Cormac, John and Micheál.

Playing career

Club

Linden plays club football for

. He has won the

Down Senior Football Championship The Down Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Down GAA clubs. The Down County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1903. Kilcoo are the title holders (2022) def ...

on 8 occasions with the club in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. He has also been beaten finalist twice in the

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and th ...

Inter-county

Minor & Under 21

Senior

Linden made his Down

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut in Oct 1981. In 1983 he won the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

with the county. Down reached the 1986

final, but were beaten by Tyrone. In

he won his first Ulster Championship medal, with Down beating

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

in the decider. Down defeated

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final, before beating Meath in the All-Ireland final. The success was Down's first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title since 1968. Linden won a second Ulster Championship medal with Down in

- overcoming Tyrone comfortably in the decider. Victories over

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in the final gave Linden another All-Ireland Senior medal. For his performances that year he received an All Star award and named

. Linden reached further Ulster finals with Down in 1996, 1999 and 2003. He retired from inter-county football in 2003.

Honours

Inter-county

* 2

1991 1994 * 2

1991 1994 * 1

Ulster Under-21 Football Championship The Ulster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Ulster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest in ...

1984 * 1 National Football League Division 1 1983 * 2 National Football League Division 2 1982 1988 * 1 National Football League Division 3 1997

Club

* 7

1999 2001 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 * 5 Down Senior Football League Division 1 1993 1999 2001 2002 2004 * 1 Down Junior Football Championship 1981 * 1 Down Minor Football Championship 1980 * 1 Down Senior Football League Division 4 1980 * 1 Down Senior Football League Division 3 1981 * 1 Down Senior Football League Division 2 1990

Individual

* 1 All Star 1994 * 1

1994 * 1 Irish News Ulster All-Stars 1995 * In May 2020, the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' named Linden as one of the "dozens of brilliant players" who narrowly missed selection for its "Top 20 footballers in Ireland over the past 50 years".

Athletics

In 2009 Linden joined Dunleer Athletics Club, at the behest of former Tyrone footballer Patsy Forbes. Later that year at the age of 46 and six years after retiring from inter-county football - Linden added to his All-Ireland medal haul. In the 2009 Irish Over-45 Championships in

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

he won two golds and a silver in the 45–50 category. He was first in both the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and finished runner-up in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

References

External links

Interview with Hogan Stand magazineOfficial Down GAA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Mickey Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Down inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football forwards Mayobridge Gaelic footballers People from Mayobridge Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football) Sportspeople from Newry