Billy Morgan (Gaelic footballer)

Infobox GAA player
code= Football
sport = Gaelic football


name = Billy Morgan
irish = Liam Ó Morgáin
fullname = William Morgan
placeofbirth = Cork
countryofbirth = Ireland
bday=2
bmonth=2
byear= 1945
dyear=
dday=
dmonth=
height =
nickname =
county = Cork
province = Munster
club = Nemo Rangers
clposition = Goalkeeper
clubs =
clyears =
clapps(points) =
clcounty =
clprovince=
clallireland =
counties = Cork
icposition = Goalkeeper
icyears = 1966-1981
icapps(points) =
icprovince = 5
icallireland = 1
allstars = 1
clupdate =
icupdate =

Billy Morgan (born 2 February 1945) is a retired Irish Gaelic football manager and former player.. He played football with his local club Nemo Rangers and with the Cork senior inter-county team from 1966 until 1981. Morgan is regarded as one of Cork's greatest-ever players.Fact|date=April 2008

Morgan's status as one of Cork's all-time greats is self-evident. In a senior inter-county career that lasted for fifteen years he won one All-Ireland title, five Munster titles, one National Football League title and five Railway Cup titles. Morgan has also been the recipient of many awards and honours off the field. In 1973 his goalkeeping prowess earned him the prestigious Texaco Footballer of the Year award, thus becoming the first goalkeeper to win the title.

Morgan is regarded by many as the soul of Cork football due to his passion as a player and as a manager for his county’s football team. Of Cork's six All-Ireland titles he has been involved as either a player or as a manager for three of them. Morgan first took charge of Cork for the 1981 championship, however, it was in his second term that he guided Cork to two All-Ireland titles in 1989 and 1990.

Early & private life

Billy Morgan was born in Cork in 1945. He was born into a household that, ironically, had a strong hurling tradition as both his parent hailed from Galway. From an early age Morgan’s dream was to play hurling for Cork, however, over time he became interested in Gaelic football. He was educated at Coláiste Chríost Rí and later attended University College Cork where he first tasted major football success. Here Morgan made a name for himself as a good goalkeeper, and he won two Sigerson Cup medals with the college in 1965 and 1966.

Morgan later worked as a secondary school teacher, before traveling to New York University in the 1980s to complete a masters degree in physical education. He also ran a pub in the centre of Cork city and he currently works as a financial adviser with his son Brian Morgan and with his nephew William Morgan.

Billy is married to Mary, and has two sons, Brian and Alan. Brian is currently the keeper with Nemo Rangers, following in his father's footsteps. Alan's preferred position is like that of his uncle, Noel 'the ghost' Morgan in the corner forward position.

Playing career

Club

Morgan played his club football with the famous Nemo Rangers club in Cork. He enjoyed much success throughout the 1970s and 1980s, beginning in 1972 when he won his first senior county championship title. This was later converted into a Munster club title and, following a defeat of St. Vincent’s in a replay, Morgan collected his first All-Ireland club title at the start of 1973. In 1974 and 1975 he claimed back-to-back county titles which were later converted into back-to-back Munster club title. In 1977 and 1978 Morgan won his fourth and fifth county titles before winning a fourth Munster club title and a second All-Ireland club title in 1979. Further county titles were collected by Morgan in 1981 and 1987 and he won his eighth Cork county title as a substitute in 1988. In 1989 he won a fifth Munster club title as a substitute.

Inter-county

By the early 1960s Morgan was a key part of Cork’s inter-county set-up and was playing on the county’s minor team as an outfield player. He lined out at centre-forward on the Cork team that was beaten by Kerry in the 1963 Munster minor final. Morgan later moved on to the county’s under-21 team, where he won a Munster title as goalkeeper in 1965. Cork were later beaten by Kildare in the All-Ireland final.

Following the under-21 campaign in 1965 Morgan joined the Cork senior football panel. He was the sub-goalie for the 1965 National Football League and made his debut in the Munster Championship in 1966. That year Morgan won his first Munster title, however, Cork were later defeated by a great Galway team in the All-Ireland semi-final. Morgan captured a second consecutive Munster title in 1967, however, Cork were later beaten by Meath in the subsequent All-Ireland final. There was some consolation at the end of the year, when Morgan was presented with a Cu Chulainn award, the forerunner to the All-Stars awards. It would be 1971 before Morgan won his third provincial title, however, it was a familiar story when Cork were later defeated by Offaly in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Two years later in 1973 Cork regained the Munster title from Kerry, giving Morgan, the captain of the side, his fourth provincial medal. Cork later broke their Croke Park jinx by defeating Tyrone in the All-Ireland semi-final, and later beat Galway in the final, giving Morgan his first All-Ireland title. He finished off the year by winning an All-Star award, as well as being named Texaco Footballer of the Year. Morgan captured a fifth Munster title in 1974, however, Cork were later defeated by an up-and-coming Dublin team in the All-Ireland semi-final. The next seven years saw Cork lose every Munster final to a Kerry team widely regarded as the greatest of all-time. There was some consolation as Cork won a National Football League title in 1980. Morgan retired from inter-county football in 1981.

Managerial career

Nemo Rangers

Morgan served as manager of the Nemo Rangers football team in the early 2000s. He guided them to three consecutive senior county titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003, all of which were later converted into three consecutive Munster club titles. ‘Nemo’ played in and lost the All-Ireland club finals of 2001 and 2002, however, in 2003 they defeated Crossmolina of County Mayo to win the All-Ireland club title, their seventh title overall.

Cork

Morgan first got a taste of managerial experience in his last championship season when he was player-manager with Cork. His period in charge ended with defeat in the Munster final of 1981. Five year later in the autumn of 1986 Morgan was appointed manager for a second time. The task ahead was enormous as Cork nearest neighbours Kerry had won eleven of the last twelve Munster titles. In spite of this Morgan guided Cork to victory in the 1987 Munster final. Unfortunately the year ended in failure as Cork lost the All-Ireland final to Meath. In 1988 Morgan’s team captured a second consecutive provincial title, however, Cork were once again beaten by Meath in the All-Ireland final.

1989 saw Cork win another provincial title before they later qualified for another All-Ireland final. With the prospect of Cork losing a third consecutive All-Ireland final Morgan left nothing to chance and his side had a comprehensive victory over Mayo. In 1990 Morgan’s footballers continued their dominance by winning a fourth Munster title in-a-row. This victory set up a fourth consecutive All-Ireland final appearance, and, once again, Cork defeated Meath to win back-to-back All-Ireland titles. This victory was all the more special as the Cork hurling team had already won the All-Ireland title in hurling. It was the first time in the modern era that a county had won the hurling and football ‘double’.

In 1991 Cork lost their provincial crown to Kerry as Morgan faced a year of difficulties with the Cork County Board. He remained on as manager and guided Cork to a fifth Munster title under his reign in 1993. Unfortunately, his team were later beaten by Derry in the All-Ireland final. Two more provincial titles were collected in 1994 and 1995, however, Cork were beaten on both occasions in the All-Ireland semi-final. Morgan resigned as manager following Cork’s exit from the 1996 Munster Championship.

In late 2003 Morgan was appointed manager of the Cork senior football team for a third time. Since then he has enjoyed some mixed results. In 2005 Cork lost the Munster final to Kerry, however, as a result of the new qualifier system both sides met in the All-Ireland semi-final where Morgan’s side were trounced by ‘the Kingdom.’ In 2006 Cork won the Munster Championship after a replay, however, Kerry once again accounted for Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final.

2007 saw Kerry regain their Munster title from Cork with Morgan again at the managerial helm in a closely contested final in Killarney. Cork successfully overcame the qualifying rounds to book a place in the quarter finals. They progressed to the 2007 All-Ireland final and once again suffered defeat to Kerry. The champions retained their title on a scoreline of 3-13 to 1-9 in what was described as a "disappointingly one-sided" game. [ [http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2007/0916/kerrycork.html RTÉ Sport: Kerry 3-13 Cork 1-09 ] ] Morgan subsequently stepped down as Cork manager. [ [http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2007/1109/cork.html?gaa RTÉ Sport: Morgan steps down from Cork post ] ]

References

Teams