Peter Darby, who captained Meath to the 1967 All-Ireland senior football title, has died.
One of only seven men to have led Meath to Sam Maguire glory, Darby was corner back on the team that beat Cork in the 1967 final at Croke Park as the Royals claimed All-Ireland glory for the third time.
He also represented Meath in hurling and is regarded as one of the county’s greatest dual players. Darby captained the Meath footballers on their ground-breaking trip to play Australia in 1968, a tour that ultimately helped lead to the creation of the International Rules. He won three Leinster senior football championships with Meath (1964, 1966, 1967), an O’Byrne Cup medal in 1967 and a Division Two hurling league title in 1962.
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Darby captained Trim to a senior football championship in 1962 and also won five senior hurling titles with the club between 1955-60. He was inducted to the Meath GAA Hall of Fame in 2017.
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“He was an absolute gentleman and one of the nicest people you could ever meet,” said Graham Geraghty, who captained Meath to their last All-Ireland in 1999.
“He was such a lovely, humble man and was a great ambassador for Meath.”
Reposing at Heffernan’s Funeral Home, High street, Trim on Wednesday from 4pm-7pm. Darby’s funeral mass is on Thursday at 11am in St Patrick’s Church, Trim. Burial afterwards in St Loman’s Cemetery.
