George McVeagh

He totalled 1613 runs for the club in League and Cup at 27.33, hitting three centuries.

His father, George Joseph Brooke McVeagh, was a landowner and local magistrate serving as the High Sheriff of Meath in 1891.

His mother, Grace Alice Maude, was a daughter of a British army lieutenant-general Charles Annesley Benson.

The family had a strong cricketing background.

His great-grandfather, Ferdinand, was one of the founders of Phoenix Cricket Club and his father had his own cricket ground at Athboy.

His elder sister Stella was capped for Ireland at hockey and her son, Donald Pratt, became a notable cricketer and all-rounder.

George McVeagh, also known as Trevor McVeagh and T. G. McVeagh, (14 September 1906 – 5 June 1968) was an Irish sportsman who was capped in four sports for his country as a cricket, hockey, tennis, and squash player.

He is considered the greatest all-round sportsman of his day in Ireland.

Trevor McVeagh was born on 14 September 1906 in Drewstown House, Athboy, County Meath.

According to the 1911 census, McVeagh family had 3 sons (Ferdinand, Montague and Trevor) and 3 daughters (Marjorie, Stella and Ivy), with Trevor being the youngest child in the family.

McVeagh was intended for Harrow School and Cambridge University, but he was sent instead to St Columba's College and Trinity College due to a downturn in the family's fortunes.

McVeagh played cricket as a batsman for St Columba's, Trinity College, Phoenix Cricket Club and Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s.

At Trinity College he captained Dublin University Cricket Club from 1925 to 1930.

McVeagh was capped for the Irish cricket team in 1926

He represented Ireland 20 times from 1926 to 1935 and once in 1938, and his career batting average was the highest achieved for an Irish player until the 1980s.

McVeagh scored 3 centuries in succession for DUCC and led the team to the Leinster Senior League title in 1927.

He scored 3,282 runs for Trinity, including nine centuries.

Four of those came in 1927 when he won the Marchant Cup.

and played a major role in 1928 in Ireland's historic victory over the touring West Indies, still the only time Ireland have recorded a first-class victory over a touring team.

During the 1930s, having left University, he played cricket both for the Phoenix Cricket Club and the national team, but because of his new profession as a solicitor and his commitment to tennis, he was an irregular player for both.

From the mid-1930s onwards, tennis replaced cricket as his main summer sport.

He represented Ireland in the Davis Cup 1933–1938 and 1946–1948.

He also played at the Irish Open (known at that time as the Irish Lawn Tennis Championships).

In 1933 The Manchester Guardian praised McVeagh as "perhaps the most improved player of the year".

Notable in this period was a series he played against legendary American player Bill Tilden in London where he won 2 out of 3 practice matches against the professional.

He was known for an "unorthodox style of play… supplemented by his excellent ball skills and limitless energy and stamina in the game".

McVeagh was at the peak of his tennis career in 1936 when Irish Davis Cup team reached the European zone semi-finals.

McVeagh, playing with George Lyttleton Rogers first defeated Sweden then Switzerland.

On May 14, McVeagh gave Ireland a two-to-one lead over Sweden defeating Curt Östberg in the second round.

On June 5, McVeagh and George Lyttleton Rogers defeated Hector Fisher and William Steiner taking a two-to-one lead over Switzerland in the third round.

On June 6, after a surprising defeat of George Lyttleton-Rogers by Fisher, McVeagh managed to defeat Max Ellmer to carry Ireland into the semi-final.

It was the first and only time that Ireland reached the European zone semi-finals.

However, the Irish duo was defeated in Berlin on June 12 by Gottfried Von Cramm and Heiner Henkel.

He also helped the team to win Leinster Senior Cup for three consecutive years in 1937–1939.

McVeagh made 67 appearances for Phoenix, the last as late as 1957, when he had not played a competitive match for 15 years.

McVeagh was the President of the Irish Cricket Union in 1957 and 1958.

His last recorded cricket match was in June 1960 when he played for St Columba's College team.

McVeagh started playing tennis in his mid-twenties.

At Trinity College he played with Shaun Jeffares and together they defeated University of Cambridge team.

He also captained the Trinity Lawn Tennis Club.