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GAA President pays tributes to Paddy Downey

The renowned former GAA journalist has passed away.

GAA PRESIDENT LIAM O’Neill has extended his sympathies to the family of Paddy Downey following the sad passing of renowned former GAA correspondent of the Irish Times.

O’Neill paid tribute to Downey who he described as ‘a legendary figure’ for his work.

“Paddy Downey was a legendary figure in the coverage of Gaelic games replacing as he did Paddy Mehigan and covering the activities of the Association for more than three decades.

“His wit, eye for detail and clarity of prose regularly brought game incidents to life in print for those who had not witnessed them and his passion for football and hurling was evident to anyone who picked up his reports.

“A Schull native, Paddy was also instrumental in the establishment of the All-Stars scheme in 1971 and was a regular attendee at our All-Ireland finals.

“He will be sorely missed and I extend my condolences to his wife Cathríona and family and Paddy’s wide circle of friends and admirers.”

Born in 1929 in Goleen in west Cork, Downey moved to Dublin in the 1950s and was editor of the Gaelic Echo magazine.

He joined The Irish Times as the deputy sports editor of the Sunday Review newspaper when it launched in November 1957.

He took over as Gaelic Games correspondent at the start of 1962 from Paddy Mehigan, who wrote under the pen name of ‘Pat O’, and continued in the position until his retirement in 1994, when Seán Moran took up the post.

Downey was one of the founding members of the All Stars in 1971 and also contributed a radio review to the newspaper in the 1970s.

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