Cork star Sandie Fitzgibbon honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award by the GPA

CORK Sandie Fitzgibbon will collect a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gaelic Players Association at the Hurling and Camogie Legends Lunch at Croke Park on the eve of the All-Ireland Hurling final weekend.

Fitzgibbon is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever to play camogie will be honoured for her outstanding service to the game but she was also a brilliant basketballer. 

A six-time All-Ireland winner, she was selected on camogie’s Team of the Century in 2004. Her All-Ireland wins span 15 seasons with her first medal coming in 1982 and her last in 1997. 

Fitzgibbon captained Cork to their 1992 win against Wexford, a year in which she also named Player of the Year. That’s an accolade she also picked up in 1995. 

She also won seven league medals, two inter-pros and four All-Ireland club crowns with Glen Rovers. 

In 2021, she was voted number in our Echo Rebel Legends poll matching up some of the greatest Cork sportspeople from a variety of codes. The tournament drew 19,959 votes online with Fitzgibbon pulling in 54.7% of the vote in the final against Rena Buckley.

She got the better of Billy Morgan, Denis Irwin, Rob Heffernan and Roy Keane before the final, which showed the high esteem she's held in for her sustained brilliance with Cork, the Glen, and on the basketball front for Blarney and Ireland.

Antrim’s Eddie Donnelly will get a Hurling Lifetime Achievement Award at the end of the month. Donnelly is the holder of eight Antrim county titles with Ballycastle, incredibly winning the first of those as a 16-year-old but having to wait another 11 years to add his second. 

He was part of their 3-in-a-row team from 1978 to 1980, going to reach the 1980 All-Ireland club final where Galway’s Castlegar came out on top. His inter-county career spanned 20 years and during that time he picked up an All-Ireland intermediate medal, Ulster titles, a Division 2 league winners medal and junior honours.

The GPA Hurling and Camogie Legends Lunch takes place at Croke Park on Friday, July 21. 

The GPA will be delighted to welcome members of the hurling All-Ireland winning teams from 2013 (Clare), 2003, 1993, 1983 and 1963 (Kilkenny) and 1973 (Limerick) on the day. Cork’s All-Ireland winners from 1993, 1983 and 1973 will there to be recognised in camogie, alongside the 2013 winners (Galway), the 2003 winners (Tipperary), and Dublin’s 1963 winners.

Corporate tables of 10 are available at €2000. Discounted rates will apply for county boards and clubs. Individual tickets can also be purchased. For booking details, please contact Karen Thorpe at karenthorpe@kickoff.ie.

All proceeds from the event are going to the Jack and Jill Foundation.

Jack and Jill is a nationwide charity providing in-home nursing care and respite support for children up to the age of 6 with severe to profound cognitive delay. This may include children with brain injury, genetic diagnosis, cerebral palsy, and undiagnosed conditions. Another key part of the service is end-of-life care for all children up to the age of 6, irrespective of diagnosis.