{{Short description|Mayo Gaelic football goalkeeper}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox GAA player | code= Football | sport = Gaelic football | image = | name = Gabriel Irwin | irish = Gaibriél Ó hEireamhóin | fullname = | feet = 5 | inches = 10 | occupation = Sales rep | county = Mayo | province = Connacht | club = [[Glenamoy GAA|Glenamoy]] | cposition = | clubs = | clyears = | clapps(points) = | clcounty = 0 | clprovince= | clallireland = | colleges = [[Sligo Regional Technical College]] | sig = 0 | counties = [[Mayo county football team|Mayo]] | icposition = Goalkeeper | icyears = 1985–1993 | icapps(points) = | icprovince = 5 | icallireland = 0 | nfl = 0 | allstars = 1 | clupdate = | icupdate = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|7|1|df=yes}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/olive/APA/INA/Default.aspx#panel=document|title=Player profiles|publisher=The Connacht Tribune|date=15 September 1989|accessdate=23 November 2022|first=|last=}}</ref> | birth_place=[[Glenamoy]],<br>[[County Mayo]], Ireland }} '''Gabriel Irwin''' (born 1 July 1965) is an [[Irish people|Irish]] former sportsman. He played [[Gaelic football]] with his local club [[Glenamoy GAA|Glenamoy]] and was a member of the senior [[Mayo county football team|Mayo county team]] from 1983 until 1990.
==Career==
A shortage of underage activity in [[Glenamoy GAA|Glenamoy]] resulted in Irwin first playing competitive [[Gaelic football]] as a schoolboy with Lacken Cross Vocational School. Here he won consecutive Mayo VSSFC titles as well as a Connacht VSSFC title. Irwin also earned inclusion on the Mayo vocational schools' team and won an [[All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship#Football Roll of Honour|All-Ireland VSSFC]] title in 1982. He later won a Freshers' Cup title with [[Sligo Regional Technical College]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://hoganstand.com/Mayo/Article/Index/79983|title=Gabriel Irwin|publisher=Hogan Stand|date=9 April 1993|accessdate=23 November 2022|first=|last=}}</ref>
Irwin first appeared for [[Mayo GAA|Mayo]] as a member of the [[All-Ireland Minor Football Championship|minor team]] in 1983, after being overlooked the year before. He was also drafted onto the under-21 team that year and won an [[All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship|All-Ireland U21FC]] medal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mayonews.ie/sports/5302-band-of-mayo-brothers|title=Band of Mayo brothers|publisher=The Mayo News|date=|accessdate=23 November 2022|first=|last=|archive-date=23 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123151837/https://www.mayonews.ie/sports/5302-band-of-mayo-brothers|url-status=dead}}</ref> Irwin's four-year tenure with the under-21 also resulted in four successive [[Connacht Under-21 Football Championship|Connacht U21FC]] medals. He joined the [[Mayo senior football team|senior team]] as reserve goalkeeper in 1985. Irwin later made the starting fifteen and was in goal when Mayo suffered a defeat by [[Cork GAA|Cork]] in the [[1989 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|1989 All-Ireland final]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mayonews.ie/sports/6894-twenty-years-on-from-that-game|title=Twenty years on from THAT game|publisher=The Mayo News|date=|accessdate=23 November 2022|first=|last=|archive-date=23 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123150311/https://www.mayonews.ie/sports/6894-twenty-years-on-from-that-game|url-status=dead}}</ref> His performances throughout the season earned him an [[GAA All Stars Awards|All-Star]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-10098770.html|title=Mayo face year without Burke after knee injury|publisher=Irish Examiner|date=26 June 2003|accessdate=23 November 2022|first=|last=}}</ref> Irwin left the inter-county scene in 1993, by which time he had also claimed five [[Connacht Senior Football Championship|Connacht SFC]] medals.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/where-are-they-now-gabriel-irwin-former-mayo-footballer-26756887.html|title=Where are they now? Gabriel Irwin (Former Mayo footballer)|publisher=Irish Independent|date=31 July 2011|accessdate=23 November 2022|first=|last=}}</ref>
==Honours==
;Lacken Cross Vocational School *Connacht Vocational Schools Senior Football Championship: 1982 *Mayo Vocational Schools Senior Football Championship: 1982, 1983 *Connacht Vocational Schools Junior Football Championship: 1980
;Sligo Regional Technical College *Higher Education Special Freshers Championship: 1984
;Mayo *[[Connacht Senior Football Championship]]: [[1985 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship#Connacht Senior Football Championship|1985]], [[1988 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship#Connacht Senior Football Championship|1988]], [[1989 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship#Connacht Senior Football Championship|1989]], [[1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship#Connacht Senior Football Championship|1992]], [[1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship#Connacht Senior Football Championship|1993]] *[[All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship]]: [[1983 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship|1983]] *[[Connacht Under-21 Football Championship]]: [[1983 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship#Connacht Under-21 Football Championship|1983]], [[1984 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship#Connacht Under-21 Football Championship|1984]], [[1985 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship#Connacht Under-21 Football Championship|1985]], [[1986 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship#Connacht Under-21 Football Championship|1986]] *[[All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship#Football Roll of Honour|All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship]]: 1982
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Navboxes |title=Mayo panels |bg=white |fg=#E00000 |bordercolor=green |list1= {{Mayo Under-21 Football Team 1983}} {{Mayo Football Team 1989}} }} {{Navboxes |title=All Stars |bg=black |fg=white |list1= {{1989 All Stars}} {{Mayo All Stars record}} }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Gabriel}} [[Category:1965 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:All Stars Awards winners (football)]] [[Category:Gaelic football goalkeepers]] [[Category:Glenamoy Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:20th-century Irish sportsmen]]