Niall Sheehy was a

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 from

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

. He played

and hurling with his local club John Mitchels, he also played hurling with Austin Stacks. He was also a member of the senior

Kerry county football team The Kerry county football team represents County Kerry, Kerry in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Kerry GAA, the County board (Gaelic games), county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual in ...

from the 1958 until 1965, where he was nicknamed "

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

" for his kicking ability. He also played for the

Kerry county hurling team The Kerry county hurling team represents Kerry in hurling and is governed by Kerry GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the Joe McDonagh Cup and the National Hurling League. Kerry's home ground is A ...

. His father was John Joe Sheehy. His brothers - Seán Óg and Paudie - both won All-Ireland titles with Kerry in the 1960s. Sheehy captained Kerry to the

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

final in 1964, but lost out to

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 ...

. He also won an

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 ...

medal in 1961, Kerry's first All Ireland Hurling title since 1891, as well as 3 National Hurling League Div 2 titles. At club level Sheehy was part of the famed John Mitchels team of the 1950s and 1960s, winning seven

Kerry Senior Football Championship The Kerry Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey’s SuperValu Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 188 ...

s (1952, five in a row from 1959 to 1963 and again in 1966).

Honours

Club

;John Mitchels *

(7): 1952, 1959 (c), 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966

County

;Kerry ;Football *

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It i ...

(6): 1958, 1960, 1961 (c), 1962, 1963 (c), 1964 (c) *

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 ...

(2):

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, 1962 *

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 ...

(2) 1961, 1963 ;Hurling *

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

(1): 1961 *

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

Division 2 (3) 1957. 1963, 1968

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Dual players John Mitchels (Kerry) Gaelic footballers John Mitchels (Kerry) hurlers Austin Stacks hurlers Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Kerry inter-county hurlers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers

Niall Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''),. According to John Ryan, Professor of Early an ...

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