Jarlath Fallon

Jarlath Fallon, known as Ja, was born in 1973 and is a former Gaelic footballer who played for the Tuam Stars club and at senior level for the Galway county team. He was born in Tuam, played at St Patrick's primary school and St Jarlath's College, and began his inter-county career with Galway in 1991. He became county captain after Tuam Stars won the 1994 Galway Senior Football Championship and led Galway to the 1995 Connacht Senior Football Championship. Galway won the 1998 All-Ireland SFC title with Fallon playing a pivotal role, and he was named Footballer of the Year that year. A cruciate ligament injury in 2000 kept him out of the final against Kerry, but he returned in 2001 as Galway reached another All-Ireland final. He is regarded as one of the finest players from Tuam since Seán Purcell and Frank Stockwell.