Martin Óg Morrissey

Martin Óg Morrissey

Personal information
Sport	Hurling
Position	Centre-back
Born	Waterford, Ireland
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Mount Sion
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1950s-1960s	Waterford
Inter-county titles
Munster titles	3
All Irelands	1
NHL	1

Martin Óg Morrissey (born 1934 in Waterford, Ireland) was an Irish sportsperson.^[1] He played hurling with his local club Mount Sion and with the Waterford senior inter-county team in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life

Martin Óg Morrissey was born in Waterford in 1933. He was educated locally at the famous Mount Sion School where his hurling skills were first developed. Morrissey captained the Mount Sion school team to win the Dr. Harty Cup in 1953.

Playing career

Club

Morrissey played his club hurling with the famous Mount Sion club and enjoyed much success. He first came to prominence on the team that captured six minor county titles in the late 1940s. Morrissey later joined the senior team where he captured his first county title in 1951. Morrissey later played a key role as Mount Sion went on to capture nine county titles in-a-row between 1953 and 1961. The club captured four more county championship victories in the 1960s.

Inter-county

Morrissey first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Waterford minor hurling team in the late 1940s. He played a key role at right corner-back as the men from ‘the Deise’ captured the Munster minor title for the first time since 1929. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Morrissey’s team taking on Kilkenny. A 3-8 to 4-2 victory gave Morrissey a coveted All-Ireland minor medal.

Morrissey subsequently joined the Waterford senior hurling team and enjoyed further successes. In 1957 Waterford reached the Munster final for the first time in almost a decade. Cork provided the opposition on that occasion and were widely tipped to take the title. Waterford, however, outplayed ‘the Rebels’ and took the title giving Morrissey his first Munster senior medal. Waterford later defeated Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, setting up a championship decider with Kilkenny. With fifteen minutes left in the game Morrissey’s side were leading ‘the Cats’ by six points, however, Kilkenny fought back to win the game by a point on a score line of 4-10 to 3-12. In 1958 Waterford were classed as one season wonders as they were trounced by Tipperary in the provincial championship. Morrissey’s side bounced back in 1959 by reaching the final of the National Hurling League. Once again, Tipp had the upper hand and defeated Waterford. In spite of this Waterford went on to defeat Cork in the provincial final, giving Morrissey a second Munster medal. This victory allowed Waterford to advance to the All-Ireland final where Kilkenny provided the opposition once again. The game is regarded as one of the all-time classics. Waterford led by five points at the break; however, Kilkenny came back and led by a goal with time running out. Just then Waterford’s Séamus Power scored a goal for Waterford and the game ended in a draw. The replay four weeks later bagan badly for Morrissey’s side, however, Waterford came back into the game and outclassed Kilkenny. The score line of 3-12 to 1-10 resulted in Morrissey collecting his first senior All-Ireland medal. Waterford surrendered their provincial title the following year and went into declined. In 1963 Morrissey’s side defeated Munster rivals Tipperary and the exiles of New York to take the National league title. The 'home final' of the league turned out to be the provincial final, with Waterford defeating Tipperary in a low-scoring game giving Morrissey his third Munster title. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Waterford square up to Kilkenny for the third time in seven years. Once again, the game was regarded as a classic with 35 scores being recorded during the sixty minutes of play. Waterford trailed at half-time; however, they fought back in the second-half. The brillinace of Kilkenny’s Ollie Walsh denied Waterford some more goals as Eddie Keher scored a record 0-14. The final score of 4-17 to 6-8 gave Kilkenny the victory and brought an end to Waterford’s greatest hurling era. Morrissey retired from inter-county hurling shortly afterwards.

Provincial

Morrissey also lined out with Munster in the inter-provincial hurling competition. He captured Railway Cup medals in 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961.

Teams

References

1. ^ "Keepers of the flame". Irish Independent. 7 September 2008. http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/keepers-of-the-flame-1471119.html. Retrieved 27 April 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Morriseey, Martin Og
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1934
Place of birth	Waterford
Date of death
Place of death