Martin McNamara (Gaelic footballer)

This poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Martin McNamara" Gaelic footballer – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message )

Martin McNamara

Personal information
Irish name	Máirtín Mac Con Mara
Sport	Gaelic football
Position	Goalkeeper
Born	(1966-11-11) 11 November 1966 (age 57) Galway, Ireland
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Club(s)
Years	Club
1985–2001	Corofin
Club titles
Galway titles	6
Connacht titles	3
All-Ireland Titles	1
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1989–2000	Galway
Inter-county titles
Connacht titles	3
All-Irelands	1
NFL	0
All Stars	1

Martin McNamara (born 11 November 1966) is an Irish former

McNamara was the reliable servant in goal for the Galway county team for several years. It was the time when a Galway match wouldn't be a Galway match without a McNamara save of blinding quality. Unfortunately it was also the time of a barren spell for the Galway team. That barren spell seemed to turn around with a first Connacht title in 8 years in 1995 and a narrow semi-final defeat to Tyrone but Mayo seemed to halt any revival that Galway were planning when they reached the next two All-Ireland finals, both at Galway's expense in Connacht.

As the 98 championship approached, retirement from inter-county football was a serious prospect for McNamara. He considered such a thought after playing a key role in Corofin's All-Ireland Club Championship winning team of 1998 but decided to continue for the time being. It would be a decision he would never regret.

All-Ireland champions in their road to Croke Park. Kildare frustrated Galway in the first half and led by 1-05 to 0-05. However, Galway turned thing around in the 2nd half to win their 8th All-Ireland title, 1-14 to 1-10. For McNamara it had completed a unique double of club and county All-Ireland success. McNamara was named in the Goalkeeper slot for the 1998 All-Stars, confirming his status as best Goalkeeper in the country that year.

Galway looked to repeat their success in

. Soon after Galway’s defeat in the Connacht final, McNamara decided to call it a day, again, but decided to have one final crack at the title in 2000.

In

in the final and after a poor start, Galway had kept Kerry to six points for the final 50 minutes. However they were unable to strike the winning score and the final finished level, 0-14 each. In the replay, a wonderful goal by Declan Meehan was not enough as Kerry won by 0-17 to 1-10. McNamara finally decided to retire at the age of 34

In recent years, the goalkeeper berth left void by McNamara since his retirement has been filled by Alan Keane, Pádraig Lally, Brian O'Donoghue and Paul Doherty.

References