Patrick Fenning (25 June 1950 – 15 May 2020) was an Irish

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. At club level he had success with Tullamore and was a two-time All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winner with the Offaly county team.

Playing career

Fenning's inter-county career with Offaly began at underage level and saw him claim Leinster Under-21 Championship medals in 1968 and 1971. He made his senior debut in 1970 in a tournament game played at Wembley Stadium and won his first All-Ireland Championship the following year after coming on as a substitute in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against Galway. Fenning claimed a second successive winners' medal in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

after scoring a goal from 50 yards in the All-Ireland final replay defeat of Kerry. Fenning's 11-season career with the Offaly senior team ended after an All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Kerry in 1980, by which stage he had made a combined total of 91

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and Championship appearances and also claimed four Leinster Championships. He was also selected for the Leinster inter-provincial team, claiming a

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) 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 ...

medal in 1974, and won county senior championship medals in 1973 and 1977 with Tullamore.

Late life and death

In retirement from playing, Fenning became heavily involved in fund-raising for local causes. He was named Offaly Person of the Year in 2011 in recognition of his management of a number of projects, among them helping erase the debt on Tullamore's GAA social centre; raising €200,000 to purchase a

CT scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

ner for the local hospital as well as supporting an arts centre and municipally-owned swimming pool in Tullamore. Fenning died aged 69 on 15 May 2020, having been diagnosed with motor neuron disease the previous year. He was survived by his wife Kathryn and two children.

Honours

;Tullamore *

Offaly Senior Football Championship The Offaly Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Offaly GAA clubs. The Offaly County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1896. Rhode are the title holders (2022 ...

(2): 1973, 1977 ;Offaly * All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (2):

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

* Leinster Senior Football Championship (4):

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

* Leinster Under-21 Football Championship (2): 1968, 1971 ;Leinster *

(1): 1974

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenning, Paddy 1950 births 2020 deaths Deaths from motor neuron disease Gaelic football managers Gaelic football selectors Leinster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Neurological disease deaths in the Republic of Ireland Offaly inter-county Gaelic footballers Tullamore Gaelic footballers