BARNEY McCoy who died last week at the age of 80 and who played with great distinction for Louth for eight years freely admitted that he was lucky he wasn't killed in a boyhood accident, never mind playing football and hurling at the highest level.

At 16, and with a promising career in front of him, Barney fell from a moving van and admitted afterwards 'I was lucky I wasn't killed, for when I fell against the back door of the van it opened, and I ended up on the road.'

His injuries, a broken hip and ankle, were serious and kept him in hospital for three months. He was out of football for two years and the medical opinion was that he should never play football again because he could dislocate his hip.

Typically, Barney defied that medical opinion and considerable pain and within two years of the accident was back playing, earning his first representative honour for the Louth minors in 1947.

He went on to play eight years with the county registering the unique distinction of sitting on the substitutes' bench in two All-Ireland finals (1950 and 1957).

In total he won three Leinster medals with Louth (1950, '53 and '57) and of course that AllIreland medal in 1957.

He also won a hatfull of medals at club level both at football and hurling with his native club, St Mary's and the hurling club attached, St Colmcille's.

A tough, hard-tackling defender, Barney saw only 50 minutes of action in the 1957 campaign when he came on as a substitute for Ollie Reilly in the Leinster final against Dublin.

Barney admitted afterwards that everything went so well for him on that day that he thought – as did many others – that he would be retained for the All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone, but on the day the selectors kept the original team.

'Naturally I was disappointed,' Barney admitted afterwards, but it was the hallmark of his service to Louth that he added 'I didn't hold it against anyone that I was not retained, I just continued training and pitching in for it was a squad effort that won the All-Ireland.'

Being part of the squad that lifted Sam in 1957 was at least some consolation for Barney as seven years previously, in 1950 he was again on the bench when Louth were cruelly beaten by Mayo in controversial circumstances.

He had made his debut with the county that same year and while he didn't expect to be involved in the 1950 final, he still relished the experience of his involvement with such a talented team.

Most of Barney's games in the following eight years with Louth were in NFL fixtures although he did make a number of championship appearances.

As a club player with St. Mary's, Barney always stood out because of the commitment he brought to the game and admits that he was fortunate to be part of a very successful Ardee team that won four senior titles in the space of 10 years between 1951 and 1960. He played with Hunterstown for just one year.

Barney brought that same commitment to his involvement with hurling and helped Colmcille's to a number of titles as well as turning out with the county junior hurling team.

Later he was a selector with St Mary's and a vicepresident of the club.

Barney was also well known in the county for his involvement with the sport of greyhound racing.

As an owner, breeder and trainer, Barney was a regular attender at local tracks and he was a great supporter of coursing, especially the Dundalk and Dowdallshll Club.

Indeed, it was ironic in some ways that he died during the biggest week of the coursing calendar for he was a regular attender at the national meeting in Clonmel where his daughter Shirley now lives.

He was buried in Ardee on Monday.