Tributes flow after passing of ‘great man’ Cooney

An All-Star in 1980 and ’81, Cooney started the following year’s final when Offaly beat Galway and his last senior inter-county game came against Kilkenny in the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final.

R.I.P: Referee Jimmy Cooney during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Offaly and Clare at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

 Former Galway hurler and inter-county referee Jimmy Cooney has been hailed as “a great man” upon his passing at the age of 68.

The Sarsfields man, the eldest of the six Cooney brothers including county star Joe, lined out for Galway in four championships from 1979 to ’82 and was left corner-back in the Tribesmen’s second ever All-Ireland senior hurling victory in 1980 when they beat Limerick in the final and also claimed a Railway Cup medal with a Galway-dominated Connacht side that year.