Seán Óg de Paor (born 24 December 1970) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played at senior level for the Galway county team. De Paor comes from An Cheathrú Rua in the Connemara Gaeltacht, where he attended the local national school, Scoil Mhic Dara. It was there he started playing Gaelic football, and he captained the team that won Corn Uí Chonaire - a competition between Gaeltacht national schools in Galway - two years running, in 1982 and 1983. From there he went on to secondary school in St Jarlath's College in

Tuam Tuam ( ; ga, Tuaim , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. Humans have lived in the area since the Bronz ...

, where he further developed his Gaelic-footballing skills. He then went on to attend

University College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, captaining its 1992 Sigerson Cup-winning side. Throughout this period, he was also regularly playing football for his club, An Cheathrú Rua, and he was on the team that was promoted to senior status in 1987, and he played a vital role when the club won the Senior County Championship in 1996 and Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta in 1997. But it was as an intercounty player that Seán Óg is best known; he played minor, under 21 and senior-level football for Galway, under a variety of different managers, without great success, it must be admitted, until the arrival of

John O'Mahony John Francis O'Mahony (1815 – 7 February 1877) was a Gaelic scholar and the founding member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Despite coming from a reasonably wealthy fa ...

as manager in 1997. Seán Óg played a key role in Galway’s winning 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 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and 2001, and he appeared in another All-Ireland final against

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 Count ...

in 2000, although they were beaten that time around. Seán Óg also played for his country against Australia in the International Rules series in four successive years, between 1998 and 2001. In 2004, De Paor suffered a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury and missed all of the 2004 Championship as a result. He struggled to shake off the injury the following, restricting his involvement in the 2005 Championship. In December of that year, he decided to retire from inter-county football In January 2008, De Paor released his autobiography, ''Lá An Phaoraigh'', written entirely in Irish with the assistance of his sister Aoife de Paor, and published by Cló Iar-Chonnachta.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Paor, Sean Og 1970 births Living people All Stars Awards winners (football) An Cheathrú Rua footballers Gaelic football backs Galway inter-county Gaelic footballers Irish autobiographers Irish international rules football players Irish schoolteachers University of Galway Gaelic footballers People educated at St Jarlath's College Winners of two All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)