Sam – The Story Of The Sam Maguire Cup

At approximately 5pm on the 3rd Sunday of September each year, the winning Captain of the All Ireland Football Final leads his team up the steps of the Hogan Stand to receive the symbol of footballing supremacy, the Sam Maguire Cup.
As he holds the cup aloft he not only creates history, he also continues a tradition that is as old as the State of Ireland itself – a tradition that is infused in the very birth of the State. Yet how many among the seething thousands on the pitch below; how many among the hundreds of thousands watching on the TV at home know anything about Sam Maguire, the man who gives his name to the cup. Who is he? Where did he come from? What is his story?