Tony Blake (born 1971/2)[1] is an Irish Gaelic football coach[2] and former player for St Eunan's and the Donegal county team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Born | 1971/2 | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
19??–200? | St Eunan's | ||
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | ||
1991–2004 | Donegal | ||
He attended St Eunan's College, where he played for the school team.[3]
Donegal manager Brian McEniff called Blake onto his panel in 1991, though Blake soon departed for a career in association football.[1] He was reserve goalkeeper for Sligo Rovers when they won a treble in the League of Ireland.[2]
Blake made his championship debut for Donegal after Paul Callaghan sustained a groin injury during Donegal's championship win over Antrim in 1998.[4]
He started Mickey Moran's first game in charge of Donegal, a league win at home to Offaly in October 2000.[5]
Blake won a Railway Cup in 2000.[6]
He never won the Ulster Senior Football Championship during his career.[7] He played throughout the 2002 Ulster Senior Football Championship as Donegal advanced to the final.[8][9][10][11] He also featured in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final against Dublin.[12] It was his best campaign and he credits the assistance of former Donegal goalkeeper Gary Walsh for his part in this.[2]
He started the first game of Brian McEniff's last spell as Donegal manager, a league defeat to Galway in Tuam in February 2003.[13]
He played in the 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final against Armagh.[14]
A persistent knee injury forced him to retire from inter-county football in May 2004. Donegal's manager at the time, McEniff (again), said of Blake's meeting with a surgeon: "when the test results came back it showed a lot of wear and tear behind the knee cap". Blake had worn a bandage on his knee before Donegal's 2004 Dr McKenna Cup final defeat to Tyrone. McEniff said: "I noticed it that day and it became apparent that he had a problem". Paul Durcan (who had just won a Sigerson Cup with Institute of Technology, Sligo) had been deputising for Blake in the 2004 National Football League.[1]
Since retiring, Blake has been a goalkeeping coach with Bonagee United and Naomh Colmcille.[2]
Honours
edit- Railway Cup: 2000[6]
- Ulster Senior Football Championship runner-up: 2002[11]
References
edit- ^ a b c Keys, Colm (19 May 2004). "Injury ends Blake career". Irish Independent.
- ^ a b c d McNulty, Chris (27 January 2018). "Tony Blake backs 'quality' Patton after 'brave' decision to join Donegal panel". Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Gaelic Football". Archived from the original on 24 October 2006.
- ^ Foley, Alan (9 June 2016). "How many Donegal keepers have played championship since 1956?". Donegal Sport Hub. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- ^ "Donegal make light of conditions to give Moran the ideal start". The Irish Times. 30 October 2000.
- ^ a b "All-Ireland Final Players". Archived from the original on 12 April 2015.
- ^ Nulty, Chris (22 July 2011). "1992–2011: The best XV not to win Ulster…". Donegal News. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ "Donegal see off Cavan". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 May 2002.
- ^ "Sweeney stars for Donegal". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 June 2002.
- ^ "Donegal oust Derry". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 June 2002.
- ^ a b "Armagh win Ulster final". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 July 2002.
- ^ Cassells, Shane (9 August 2002). "Late points force Dubs to replay with Donegal". Fingal Independent. Independent News & Media.
A terrible hand pass clearance from Ray Sweeney went straight to Jason Sherlock who picked off Cosgrove and he buried the ball past Tony Blake from 13 metres.
- ^ Duggan, Keith (3 February 2003). "Meehan adds spark to Galway attack". The Irish Times.
- ^ "Armagh's double still alive". Irish Independent. 1 September 2003.