The wider GAA community was in mourning last week at the news of the death of legendary Dublin goalkeeper and manager Paddy Cullen after a long illness.
The 80-year-old O’Connell Boys clubman spent 13 years as the county No 1 from 1966 to 1979.
A winner of three All-Irelands and four All-Star awards, he was an integral part of Heffo’s Heroes when they took Gaelic football by storm in 1974.
As a player Paddy will be remembered for two big moments in All Irelands – his penalty save in ’74 from Galway’s Liam Sammon, which Dublin went on to win 0-14 to 1-6, and so began an era that changed the face of GAA in the capital city forever.
The other incident which Paddy was involved in was the infamous Mikey Sheehy goal of 1978, when he was chipped after coming off his line to dispute referee Seamus Aldridge’s call to award Kerry a free in, adjudging the net-minder to have picked the ball off the ground.
With six Leinster titles also to his credit, he retired in 1979 after Dublin suffered a big defeat to Kerry. He was manager of Dublin for four years, won three Leinster and one League title but was beaten in the four-game saga with Meath in 1991 and then lost surprisingly to Donegal in the following year’s Sam Maguire decider.
A universally popular figure, he was arguably one of the best goalkeepers of all time, as his calm demeanor spread to his defense and allowed them to play with more confidence.
Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
