Former Dublin player Norman Allen dies, aged 93

The death has taken place at the age of 93 of former Dublin player Norman Allen. One of the talented dual generation that came up through St Vincents in the 1940s, he graduated to the senior teams in the following decade, playing in the 1952 All-Ireland hurling final defeat by Cork.

A year later he won a national league medal for Dublin on team featuring 14 of his Vincents club-mates and won the Gaelic Sportsman of the Year award, beating Christy Ring into second.

In 1955 he had the disappointment of missing the historic 1955 All-Ireland football final defeat by Kerry because of appendicitis. Life took him to New York for the years that followed and he missed out on the footballers’ All-Ireland in 1958 and the hurlers reaching the 1961 final.

He returned in 1964 to play an active part in St Vincents both in the last years of his playing career and as a mentor and coach.