Local man to finally receive Ireland rugby cap 50 years on

A Taughmaconnell man is finally to receive an Irish rugby cap 50 years after playing for his country.

Leo Galvin, who represented Ireland against Argentina in 1973, whilst an Athlone club player, is among 12 players to be capped by the IRFU.

In a statement today, the IRFU said the 12 players were not awarded caps at the time for games which were not then recognised as International Test Matches.

Dating back to 1946, and ranging up to 1989, the players will be honoured with an Ireland cap and enrolled in the official list of International Players.

A special committee of the IRFU was set up to oversee the awarding of caps and decide on how best to recognise the players. This involved a rigorous process examining the history of capped and uncapped games, identifying the players involved and contacting them and their families.

The 12 players will be honoured at a pre-match event at the Bank of Ireland Nations Series match against England on Saturday, 19 August in Aviva Stadium.

Leo Galvin from Taughmaconnell played against Argentina at a time when the South American side were not recognised by International Rugby Board and so caps were not awarded for internationals played against them.

Asked a number of years ago in a book on Ireland's Rugby Greats by Curraghboy native John Scally, if that was something which upsets him, Mr Galvin said: "It would have been nice to get a cap but it was such an honour to have played for Ireland and donning the Irish jersey, and that honour was all I needed. It is nice to see that jersey I wore that day is hanging on the wall in the rugby club in Athlone."

Galvin represented Garbally College, Athlone, Connacht and UCD in a long career and he was honoured for his Lifetime Contribution to Rugby by Connacht Rugby in 2018.

Prior to 1986, with two exceptions, Ireland only awarded caps to players who played in an international game against one of the "original" rugby playing nations - England, Scotland, Wales, France, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The two exceptions were the 1888 match against the touring NZ Natives and the IRFU Centenary match against the President’s International XV in 1974. (The third capped game against a non-national side was the final game in Lansdowne Road against the Pacific Islands in 2006).

Ireland has played 19 games against national sides where caps were not awarded by Ireland. However, in 14 of these games, caps were awarded by our opponents. In all, 12 players played in those 14 games and they will be presented with their international cap in recognition of this.

From a statistical point of view the players will receive their Irish International player number today as opposed to retrospectively going back and reordering every Irish player’s player number. Nor will the past caps and points records be adjusted for those games.

Ireland’s most recently capped player Joe McCarthy (v Australia in 2022) is Irish cap #1141, therefore the 12 individuals would be designated as Irish international player #1142 to #1153.

IRFU President John Robinson said: "There was unanimous support from the IRFU Committee for this initiative which will give due recognition to these 12 players who represented Ireland in the amateur era. This is an important acknowledgement of their efforts as times have evolved and I know that this cap ceremony will bring great pride and recognition to the players themselves, their families and indeed to their clubs. I look forward to welcoming the players and their guests to Aviva Stadium in August."

List of names, Clubs at the time, Year Capped & Ireland Cap Number:

Jack Belton (Old Belvedere) 1946 - #1142

Hugh Dolan (UCD) 1946 - #1143

Harry Greer (NIFC) 1946 - #1144

Jack Guiney (Bective Rangers) 1946 - #1145

Des Thorpe (Old Belvedere) 1946 - #1146

Paul Traynor (Clontarf) 1952 - #1147

John Birch (Ballymena) 1970 - #1148

Frank O’Driscoll (UCD) 1970 - #1149

Leo Galvin (Athlone) 1973 - #1150

Emmet O’Rafferty (Wanderers) 1976 - #1151

Rab Brady (Ballymena) 1985 - #1152

Paul Clinch (Lansdowne) 1989 - #1153