Billy Morgan (Gaelic Footballer)

Billy Morgan (Gaelic Footballer)

Billy Morgan (born 2 February 1945 in High Street, Cork, Ireland) is a former Irish Gaelic footballer. In a career that spanned three decades from the early 1960s to the early 1980s he played football at club level with University College Cork and Nemo Rangers, at inter-county level with Cork and at inter-provincial level with Munster. Morgan is known for his successes at all levels; most notably captaining both his club and his county to respective All-Ireland titles in 1973. In 2010 he was inducted into the MBNA Kick Fada Hall of Fame, honouring his five decade-long involvement with Cork and cementing his reputation as one of his county's greatest-ever football servants.

Morgan began his career as a centre-forward on the Cork minor football team in the early 1960s before moving onto the county's senior team in 1966 where he was moved back to his preferred position in goal. Over the next fifteen years he won one All-Ireland title, five Munster titles and one National League title. Morgan began his club football career with University College Cork before becoming an integral part of the Nemo Rangers team in the 1970s that secured two All-Ireland titles, four Munster and five Cork titles. As a member of the Munster inter-provincial team he won four Railway Cup titles as first-choice goalkeeper.

Morgan became player-manager of the Cork senior football team in his final years as a player in the late 1970s. After an unsuccessful first tenure and a brief hiatus he returned to the position of manager in 1986 and brought the team back-to-back All-Ireland titles, seven Munster titles and one National League title over the course of the next decade. In 2003 Morgan was tempted back for a third stint as manager, however, his final term was not as successful. He did guide the team to a Munster title, however, his third term ended controversially following an All-Ireland final drubbing by arch-rivals Kerry in 2007.