Legendary former Mayo footballer Paddy Prendergast has passed away at the age of 95.
The Ballintubber man won back-to-back All-Irelands with his native county. Prendergast was a full-back on the 1950 team and was at the heart of the defence again a year later in 1951 - the last time Mayo won an All-Ireland title.
Prendergast was the last surviving member of the 1951 starting team that landed the Sam Maguire Cup against Meath 70 years ago.
The ex-Mayo star lived much of his life in Kerry after his work as a Garda took him to Tralee in the 1960s. He would later go on to work for Shell.
He had been stationed in Donegal early in his career and represented Donegal at inter-county level before going on to play for his native Mayo, where he was nicknamed the 'Ballet Full-Back'.
Mayo have played in 11 finals since the famous 1951 triumph. They were beaten by Tyrone in the decider earlier this month, following on from defeats in 1989, 1996 after a replay, 1997, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016 after a replay, 2017 and 2020.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror before this year's final, Paddy's wife Irene had described how he revelled in Mayo's dramatic semi-final win over Dublin. She said: “We were all excited and he really enjoyed it. Paddy said they are a great bunch and they have big hearts.”
She also referred to the friendship her husband had with the second-last surviving member Padraig Carney, nicknamed 'The Flying Doctor', who died in June 2019 in California aged 91.
Irene added: “He always talks about the lifetime friendships they had. Paddy stayed in America in Carney’s house and every time they came over they would come to us and stay with us.”
The last surviving member of the 1951 panel, former GAA president Dr Mick Loftus, is alive and well in his native Mayo.
