Pádraig Carney photographed having a rest after flying
from New York for the Mayo v Dublin National League
semi-final on 25 April 1954, the day he was immortalised
as ‘The Flying Doctor’. (Irish Press photograph)
The family of the late Dr Pádraig Carney, the former Mayo All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer known as “The Flying Doctor”, is providing all his medals, some photographs, and other memorabilia for permanent display in County Mayo. The exhibit will showcase his extraordinary career as a Mayo footballer and later as a distinguished doctor specialising in obstetrics and gynecology in the United States. Cormac Carney, Pádraig youngest son, said: “my siblings and I are delighted that our father’s medals and other memorabilia will return home to Mayo for all to see”. Bernard 0’Hara, a good friend for over 40 years, said that he “is delighted with the vision and generosity of the Carney family to keep their father’s medal collection together in his native county. Mayo always had a special place in his heart and he followed the county’s football fortunes with great interest.”
Dr Pádraig Carney, who passed away in San Juan Capistrano, Southern California, in June 2019 at the age of 91, was one of the all time greats in the history of the Gaelic football. He wore the green and red senior jersey of Mayo with distinction from the age of seventeen in 1945 until his emigration at his prime in 1954 at the age of twenty-six. Mayo County Board brought him back from New York for the Mayo v Dublin National League semi-final on 25 April 1954 (he had emigrated in March) and he captained Mayo to a thrilling 0-11 to 0-7 victory over the favourites, Dublin. Micheál Ó Hehir, the wonderful GAA commentator, immortalised Pádraig that day as ‘The Flying Doctor’. He was brought back again for the League final, in which he led Mayo to a decisive victory over Carlow. This was his last competitive game on Irish soil.
Pádraig Carney won every honour in Gaelic football: two All-Ireland back-to-back senior football medals in 1950 and 1951, four Connacht senior medals 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951, two National League medals 1949 and 1954 and one Connacht Minor, 1946. In addition, he won three Sigerson Cup medals (university competition) with University College Dublin in 1946, 1947 and 1949. After playing for the Combined Universities in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951, he was selected for the Rest of Ireland against the Combined Universities in 1952 and 1953. He won a Railway Cup medal (an inter-provincial competition) with Connacht in 1951, as well as two Mayo senior football championship medals with Castlebar Mitchels in 1951 and 1952 (while working in the County Hospital) and a junior championship medal with Charlestown Sarsfields in 1953 (while serving as a doctor in Charlestown). While studying in Detroit in 1956, he played for the Mayo team there and won the US Mid-West championship. Pádraig Carney was nominated to the GAA Hall of Fame in 2001, when a postage stamp was issued in his honour. He was selected at centre-field on the Connacht team of the Century in 2000, and on the Sigerson Cup team of the Century in 2011.
Mayo’s great full-back on the 1950 and 1951 team, Paddy Prendergast, said: “Pádraig Carney was one of those rare, rare footballers who combine great skill and intelligence with raw pace and power. Carney had it all, and we were a lesser team whenever he was not there”.
Seán Flanagan, captain of the Mayo 1950/51 team, in a tribute said:
          “Pádraig Carney was gifted, fearless and at his best majestic. He combined great strength with the most delicate touch and gained more
          possession than any of his contemporaries. Of his greatness there is not and never will be any doubt and he is deservedly a legend!”

Exploring Mayo by Bernard O’Hara is now available Worldwide as an eBook for the amazon Kindle application.
The print version of Bernard O’Hara’s book Exploring Mayo can be obtained by contacting www.mayobooks.ie.
Bernard O'Hara's book entitled Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish is now on sale in the USA and UK as a paperback book at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or Barnes and Noble
It is also available as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).
An earlier publication, a concise biography of Michael Davitt, entitled Davitt by Bernard O’Hara published in 2006 by Mayo County Council , is now available as Davitt: Irish Patriot and Father of the Land League by Bernard O’Hara, which was published in the USA by Tudor Gate Press (www.tudorgatepress.com) and is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. It can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).