P. J. Duke (gaelic footballer)

Philip Joseph Duke, known as P. J. Duke (1925-1950), was a Gaelic footballer who played for the Cavan county team and could operate as a half-back, midfielder or forward. His finest hour is arguably Cavan's win over Kerry in the 1947 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, played at the Polo Grounds in New York. With Cavan eight points behind, he was switched from midfield to right half-back to mark Batt Garvey, and the move tightened the defence and changed the pattern of the game. He later formed a half-back partnership with Simon Deignan and J. J. O'Reilly to reclaim the title in 1948, won a National Football League medal in 1949 and a Railway Cup medal with Ulster in 1950, and collected three Sigerson Cup medals with University College Dublin. He died after a short illness at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin on 1 May 1950, aged just 25. He is number 124 in the 125 greatest stars of the GAA and was selected at right half back in Cavan's Team of the Millennium in December 2000.