| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Football Position: | Centre half forward | ||
| Hurling Position: | Centre half forward | ||
| Born | Kircubbin County Down | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Nickname | Heggy | ||
| Occupation | Dentist | ||
| Clubs | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| Carryduff (F) Ballycran (H) | |||
| Club titles | |||
| Football | Hurling | ||
| Down titles | 1 | 8 | |
| Ulster titles | 0 | 1 | |
| All-Ireland titles | 0 | 0 | |
| College titles | |||
| Sigerson titles | 1 | ||
| Inter-county | |||
| Years | County | ||
1981–1997[2] 1985–1993 | Down (F) Down (H) | ||
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Football | Hurling | ||
| Ulster Titles | 3 | 1 | |
| All-Ireland Titles | 2 | 0 | |
| League titles | 1 | 2 (Div 3) | |
| All-Stars | 3 | 0 | |
Greg Blaney is anIrishdual player who playedGaelic football andhurling forDown in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of the Down team that won theAll-Ireland Senior Football Championship in1991 and1994.[1] Blaney won threeUlster Senior Football Championships[2] and aNational League title with Down and won threeAll Star awards during his career.[2] He also had a distinguished underage career with the county - winningUlster Minor,Ulster Under 21 andAll-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship medals.
In football, he usually played atcentre half forward.[3] He was a brilliant reader of the game.[3] He was renowned for his vision,[4] ball-winning[1] and play-making abilities.[1][5] His excellent passing skills[1] set up countless chances for teammates.[3] His understanding with Down corner forwardMickey Linden has been described as "near telepathic".[1] It has been said that he made the Down "attack tick with his shrewd play and inventiveness".[5] Blaney was also able to score himself.[3]
Blaney is a legend in DownGAA circles,[5] and is known as one of the county's best ever footballers.[3] In 2009 to mark the 125th anniversary of theGaelic Athletic Association he was named byThe Irish News as one of the all-time best 125 footballers from Ulster.[1]
As a hurler with Down, Blaney wonUlster Minor andUlster Senior Hurling Championship medals.
Blaney is fromKircubbin in theArds Peninsula, County Down, wherehurling is undoubtedly the game of choice. In fact there is no club where football is even available in the ards, with all 3 being famed clubs where hurling is the only game played.[citation needed] He however is a member of the famous Blaney family, a renowned Gaelic Games family in county Down.[citation needed] Keeping with his family traditions, Blaney attended school atSt Colman's College inNewry, a famed gaelic football institution known Ireland-wide.[citation needed] This was the beginning of his footballing career, one which he later enhanced whilst attending[6]Queen's University Belfast.[6]
His father SeáncaptainedArmagh toUlster Minor andAll-Ireland Minor Football Championship glory in 1949.[6]
He has six brothers and one sister.He is married with six children and currently lives in Belfast.[citation needed]
Blaney's club isBallycran. He played club football for a period withCarryduff as Ballycran had no football team. He won many underage honours with Ballycran including a Feile na nGael Hurling and played in the National Feile in Limerick. He won numerous Down Senior Hurling Championships alongside his brothers and childhood friends. Ballycran started a football team winning Down ACFL Division 4 and progressing into Division 3. It was as a Ballycran footballer that he won the All-Ireland in 1991 with Down. While with Carryduff, his first year playing for the club'sSenior team was 1978[1][7] at the age of only 15.[7] He helped the club win the Down Junior Football Championship in 1986.[6]
Blaney played for the DownMinor team for three years and won theUlster Minor Football Championship with them in 1977 & 1979.[1] In 1979 at the age of just 16,[1] he was part of the DownUnder 21 team that won theUlster Under 21 andAll-Ireland Under 21 Football Championships.[1]
Blaney joined the Down Senior panel in 1981.[2] That year, while only 18 years old,[2] he won his firstUlster Senior Football Championship medal with the county.[1] Two years later he helped Down win theNational Football League.[1] He also received anAll Star award for his performances that year.[1] Blaney and Down reached the 1986 Ulster final, but were beaten byTyrone.[2]
In1991 Down again won the Ulster Championship, beatingDonegal in the decider. Down defeatedKerry in the All-Ireland semi-final, before beatingMeath in the All-Ireland final. The success was Down's first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title since 1968.[1] Blaney also won a second All-Star that year.[1]
Blaney won a third Ulster Championship medal with Down in1994.[2] Victories overCork in the All-Ireland semi-final andDublin in the final gave Blaney another All-Ireland Senior medal. Once again he was honoured for hs performances that year with an All-Star.[1]
Blaney lined out in another Ulster final two years later, but Down lost to Tyrone.[2] He retired from inter-county football in 1997.[2] Blaney is one of a couple of players that have won Ulster Senior Hurling and Football
While at St. Colman's Blaney was part of probably the best college team Ulster has certainly seen and with respect to Ireland we will never know. Between Blaney's 1st year in 1974 and last in 1981, the team went undefeated through league and knockout stages in the various age category competitions. Winning Dalton Cup(74/75)(Blaney captain), Corn na nOg(76/77), Rannefast(78/79) andMacRory Cup(1981). Unfortunately, this team never had the chance to test their mettle on the Irish stage. In this era the only All-Ireland football competition was the final school year but the disparity between school leaving age in Ulster and the other three provinces meant a misalignment of the competition ages. So in 1981, having qualified for the then only All-Ireland college competition, theHogan Cup, but with the age disparity between Ulster'sMacRory (U18 1/2) and the other 3 provinces, Blaney and half a dozen colleagues from this undefeated team were deemed ineligible for theHogan Cup (U18).
Blaney's honours while at St. Colman's included helping the school win threeMacRory Cups[1] (1978, 1979 and 1981[6]). In 1978 they went on to reach theHogan Cup final, but they were beaten bySt. Jarlath's College,Tuam. In 1949, St. Colman's were captained by Greg's father Sean Blaney, who also captained them to success in 1950 - a feat only equalled by Dermot McNicholl (1983 and 1984). In 1981 final, the captain of the winning St. Colman's team was none other than Greg Blaney, son of Sean.
Sean and Greg are the only father/son combination to captain winning MacRory Cup teams.
As a fresher, Blaney was a top-scorer when Queen's University Belfast won theSigerson Cup in 1982.[6] He also won the Ryan Cup[6] on two occasions with QUB (1984 and 1985). In 1999, he was named a "Sporting Great" of the university.[8] He is also a patron of QUB's GAA academy.[8]
Blaney played forUlster on many occasions. He won theRailway Cup five times with the province[1][6] (between 1983 and 1995[6]).
Blaney playedCompromise rules football forIreland againstAustralia in 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1990.[6]
Blaney's club is Ballycran, and he played club football for a period with Carryduff as Ballycran had no football team. He won many underage honours with Ballycran including a Feile na nGael Hurling and played in the National Feile in Limerick. He won numerous Down Senior Hurling Championships alongside his brothers and childhood friends. Ballycran started a football team winning Down ACFL Division 4 and progressing into Division 3. It was as a Ballycran footballer that he won the All-Ireland in 1991 with Down. Blaney played in Antrim Senior Hurling League Division 1 with Ballycran in an era where no quarter was given or asked against teams such as Cushendall, Loughgiel, Ballycastle and fierce local rivals Ballygalget and Portaferry.
Blaney represented Down hurlers at Minor, Under 21 and Senior level.[6] In 1978 he won anUlster Minor Hurling Championship medal with the county.[6]
He was part of the Down side that won the 1992Ulster Senior Hurling Championship[6] - the county's first since 1941.
Blaney served as a selector with the Down Senior football team when former teammatePaddy O'Rourke was manager.[2] He was appointed to the role in July 2002.[5] In 2003 Down reached the Ulster final, where they faced Tyrone.[2]
There are 7 available Down All-County Senior League Medals Available - 3 in hurling and 4 in football. Blaney has a record number of league medals, a feat that may never be equalled. Blaney has won all medals, save for the Division 1 ACFL. He has won the following: