{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Short description|Donegal Gaelic footballer}} '''Martin Gavigan''' is an old [[Gaelic football]]er who played as a defender for [[CLG Ard an Rátha|Ard an Rátha]], the [[Donegal county football team|Donegal county team]] and the [[Ireland international rules football team]].
He was a member of Donegal's [[1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final|1992]] All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning team. He played for the county from 1988 until 1995.{{fact|date=April 2021}}
He played against [[Armagh county football team|Armagh]] in the 1990 Ulster final, won by Donegal.<ref name=1990_winners>{{cite news|first=Chris|last=McNulty|url=http://www.donegalsporthub.com/donegals-1990-ulster-winners-will-be-honoured-tomorrow-heres-their-story/|title=Donegal's 1990 Ulster winners will be honoured tomorrow — here is their story|date=18 July 2015|access-date=18 July 2015|archive-date=20 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720010408/http://www.donegalsporthub.com/donegals-1990-ulster-winners-will-be-honoured-tomorrow-heres-their-story/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He started at centre-back in the 1992 All-Ireland Final as Donegal defeated [[Dublin county football team|Dublin]] by a scoreline of 0–18 to 0–14. He would win an [[List of All Stars Awards winners (football)|All Star]] in 1992 too.<ref name=heroes_of_92>{{cite news|first=Alan|last=Foley|url=http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/donegalsport/The-heroes-of--3992.4856965.jp|title=The heroes of '92 — Where are they now?|work=[[Donegal Democrat]]|date=8 January 2009|accessdate=8 January 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218180946/http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/sport/the-heroes-of-92-where-are-they-now-1-1989654|archive-date=18 December 2015}}</ref>
Known as "Rambo", he was a schoolteacher.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/donegal/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=80294|title=Ardara's Martin Gavigan: The man the Donegal fans call 'Rambo'|work=[[Hogan Stand]]|date=30 April 1993}}</ref> In 1992, ''[[Hogan Stand]]'' was able to indicate that: "Even objective observers of the game in Donegal recognised that the [[Martin Shovlin|Shovlin]], Gavigan and [[Donal Reid|Reid]] combination probably represented the best line of defence in the country. The Dublin trio of [[Paul Curran (Gaelic footballer)|Curran]], [[Tommy Carr (Gaelic footballer)|Carr]] and [[Eamon Heery|Heery]] were the only other combination which vied for that tag, it was suggested".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/county/donegal/article/index/63005|title=Reid, Donal|work=[[Hogan Stand]]|date=31 July 1992}}</ref>
He vice-captained [[Ireland international rules football team|Ireland]] for the [[1990 International Rules Series|1990 Tour of Australia]].<ref name=dn_05032020/>
In May 2012, the ''[[Irish Independent]]'' named him in its selection of Donegal's "greatest team" spanning the previous 50 years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.donegaldaily.com/2012/05/14/gaa-donegals-greatest-team-of-the-last-50-years-named/|title=GAA: Donegal's greatest team of the past 50 years named|date=14 May 2012|access-date=14 May 2012}}</ref>
He got married the Saturday after the 1992 All-Ireland final.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM9YcGR6wYI&t=1h00m29s|title=1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Final: Dublin v Donegal|website=[[YouTube]]|date=21 March 2020}}</ref> His brother [[Luke Gavigan|Luke]] also featured for Donegal.<ref name=dn_05032020/> Luke's son (and Martin's nephew), Luke Jnr, based with the [[CLG Seán Mac Cumhaills|Seán Mac Cumhaills]] club, captained the Donegal under-20 team that reached the 2020 Ulster final.<ref name=dn_05032020>{{cite news|first=Frank|last=Craig|title=[Luke] Gavigan wary of Tyrone threat|work=[[Donegal News]]|date=5 March 2020|page=77|quote=Luke Gavigan… the Tir Chonaill skipper… comes from formidable footballing stock. His dad Luke was a member of the Donegal senior football squad that won the 1992 All-Ireland title. His uncle Martin… also vice-captained the victorious 1990 Ireland Compromise Rules side that toured Australia. The MacCumhaills clubman says…}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Neil|last=Loughran|url=https://www.irishnews.com/sport/gaafootball/2020/03/09/news/second-half-scoring-spree-sees-tyrone-land-ulster-title-as-donegal-are-left-to-rue-black-card-1861780/|title=Second half scoring spree sees Tyrone land Ulster title as Donegal rue black card|work=[[The Irish News]]|date=9 March 2020|access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref>
==See also== * [[List of All Stars Awards winners (football)]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://archive.today/20130123195637/http://www.gaainfo.com/players/football/donegal/M%20Gavigan.php Martin Gavigan] at GAAinfo.com
{{Donegal Football Team 1992}} {{1992 All Stars}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavigan, Martin}} [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Ard an Rátha Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers]] [[Category:Gaelic football backs]] [[Category:Irish international rules football players]] [[Category:Irish schoolteachers]] [[Category:Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football)]]