Denis Hannon captained the Irish football team at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games as the first captain of any Irish team to compete as an independent nation in the Olympics - a moment of extraordinary historical significance. The Athlone Town captain was a thirty-six-year-old lawyer with an already exceptional sporting record: he was the first player to win senior cup medals under both Irish football jurisdictions, a member of the first Ireland team to beat England in a full international, and the holder of five amateur IFA caps (1908-1920) and six full caps (last earned in 1913). In the year of the Paris Games, Hannon had played a key role in Athlone Town's improbable win of the 1924 FAIFS Cup - achieved without conceding a goal for the only time in the competition's history. He played in both Olympic matches: the historic 1-0 victory over Bulgaria on 28 May and the quarter-final against the Netherlands on 2 June, which ended 2-1 after extra time.
Football
