Brothers in Arms: 8 Great GAA Families

The Brogans, the O Sé brothers, Eamonn and Neil McGee. What of the McEntees of Crossmaglen, Henry and Seamus Downey, or in Tyrone the Cavanaghs, the McMahons, the Donnellys Mattie and Richie and in Derry the McGoldrick clan? Monaghan’s Kieran and Darren Hughes. It's a feature of the GAA with its family ethos that you often don't see one brother without the other. Sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart. Often one lad suffers in the shadow of his sibling. What with wearing each other socks, lifting the wrong initialled and occasionally even getting a yellow card in the wrong.

Pity the poor Irish mother. Bad enough going through the wringer over one son but imagine having two involved. It was said in Derry that the Downey’s mother could never bring herself to watch Seamus and Henry play. But play they did. Gaelic football and hurling are full of bands of brothers plying their trade. Some are more successful than others. Wrong it is too, to ask one how the other is going. They tend to get treated by management as a pair, or a trio rather than individuals.

The McGee Men From Gaoth Dobhair

The McGee’s can be described as uncompromising teak tough Gaoibh Dobhair men at the heart of the Donegal rearguard. Two hardy boys. I'd say the boiled eggs, spuds and wheaten bread weren't long on the table when these lads were growing up. Eamon and Neil are household names, with younger sibling Peter having also represented Donegal. The McGees had featured regularly with Donegal over the years, but it was Neil who was first part of the Jim McGuinness revolution. Eamon took a while longer to be convinced about McGuinness’s plans, working as he was in London, but when he came on board he soon broke back into the team. Neil has three All Stars for his troubles, and for the troubles he’s given plenty of forwards over the last few years. He’s also played in the last couple of International Rules series. The brothers won All Ireland medals together in 2012. Still there and rock solid at the back. Tangle with care.

The Ó Sé Brothers From Kerry

Brothers Ó Sé, and also nephews of the great Paudie Ó Sé, modern Kerry legends, it’s in their DNA. The class and the football braining. Marc still plies his trade with the Kerry seniors, whilst Tomas is enjoying rather than enduring an Indian summer at Nemo Rangers. Darragh was a bull of a midfielder single mindedly combining, power strength and super footballing skills. In their day the O Sé brothers were the heartbeat of the Kerry team of the noughties. The back pockets of trousers out in the Gaeltacht must be fierce large, with Darragh carrying six Celtic Crosses in his; Tomas has five and youngest brother Marc has five also. Tomas nowadays is an articulate presence on the RTE’s pundit sofa. Their likes may never been seen again. Yerra.

Armagh and Crossmaglen McEntees

Tough, hardy footballers and cerebral thinkers about the game, it is said they finish each other’s sentences in that slow Crossmaglen drawl. Tony functioned effectively in a variety of roles for Armagh whilst John was a superb ball playing 11 with a dream of a left foot. He played with vision and precision, maybe wasn’t the paciest of men, but he’d a great brain. Aside from their All Ireland success with Armagh their back pockets jangle with five all Ireland club medals and a sack load of Ulster and Armagh championship medals. Both featured in the Armagh 2002 team, with John a mercurial presence at centre forward before going off with a  concussion. Tony was a sub that day, he often covered beside and in front of McGeeney as part of Armagh’s defensive set up. They were indispensible for Cross over the years.

Tyrone’s Twin Spires

The McMahon lads, son of former Tyrone players Paddy, their finest hour in the Red Hand jersey undoubtedly was taking on the Twin Towers of Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Walsh in the 2008 All Ireland final. Mickey Harte stationed the twin Spires of Omagh on the edge of the square in Croker where they proved to be a sacred heart in the Tyrone defence repelling the Kerry colossuses again and again. Both continue to operate for Tyrone, with both men combining their height and power with a high level of skill and deft footballing brain. Big Joe loves to tell a joke or two on his Twitter account. Check it out.

Spillane from Templenoe

Pat Spillane manages to engage and enrage people so much in his role as a pundit these days, that they forget what an outstanding footballer he was in his heyday. For a man who lambasts the modern systems and their defensive set up, he was a player who covered serious ground sweeping back into his own defence with great effect. A brilliant ball carrier and an efficient scorer in the great Kerry team he lifted Sam at the age of 19 in 1975 at Croke Park against Dublin, following Mickey Ned O’Sullivan’s concussion. Between them the three brothers Spillane Pat, Tom and Mick hold nineteen All Ireland medals, Pat has eight, Tom has seven and Mick four. Pat though was named on the team of the millennium as one of the best players ever to kick an O’Neills size 5. He was also the first gaelic footballer to recover from the dreaded cruciate ligament injury.

The Brogans: Like Father Like Sons

Bernard Brogan joined the Dublin panel in 2006 and since then he has won three All Ireland medals to match the haul of his father Bernard Senior who was part of the great Dublin team of the seventies. He has also won four All Star Awards. Older brother Alan preceded him on the Dublin team and he too shares the family record of three Celtic crosses. Bernard captained the International Rules team in 2015. Classy boys like their da. Good ball players like their da too. Their mum is a Kerrywoman so they have it good every way.

The Cavanaghs

Sean Cavanagh burst onto the Gaelic football scene as a rambunctious minor in '01 barrelling up the pitch from midfield. He was a precocious talent in the 2003 team that lifted Sam and played key roles in 2005 and 2008. Now one of the elder statesmen of the Tyrone team he has stated this week that the 2016 season could be his last. Sean was joined on the 2008 All Ireland winning panel by younger brother Colm who has gone on, over the last couple of years, to define the role of the defensive midfield sweeper, dropping deep into defence to cover in front of the Tyrone markers.

The Cannings

Ollie and Joe Canning ply their trade for Portumna and Galway. With four All Ireland club titles each the brothers are prodigiously talented. Joe needs no introduction with his sideline scoring, free taking, backward handpassing  and goal machine magic. Ollie defined the role of modern corner back in hurling and was a powerful dressing room influence for club and county having started his carreer as a forward and reverted back there for his club when his days with Galway were over. Anyone who has ever listed to Damian Coleman talk of match facts will know he holds Ollie up as a man who insisted on every man knowing their own tackling stats at half time, to determine how hard his team were working. Many believe that had Canning not gone off injured in 2010 Galway would have beaten Tipperary in the All Ireland semi final, such was his influence and commanding presence.