Noel Lane

It was Galway's first All-Ireland title since 1923, with Lane picking up a winners' medal and the celebrations surpassed anything ever seen in Croke Park.

Noel Lane (born 11 December 1954) is an Irish former hurler who played as a full-forward at senior level for the Galway county team.

Born in Ballyglass, County Galway, Lane first played competitive hurling while at school in Our Lady's College, Gort.

During his tenure Our Lady's College won four consecutive Connacht titles; however, Lane's side were defeated by St Peter's College, Wexford in the All-Ireland decider in 1973.

Lane experienced much success at juvenile and underage levels with Ballinderreen, winning south championship medals in the under-14, under-16 and under-21 grades.

He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of twenty-two when he made his senior debut with Galway in the 1977–78 National Hurling League.

Lane went on to play a key role for Galway for more than a decade, and won three All-Ireland medals and two National Hurling League medals.

He was an All-Ireland runner-up on five occasions.

As a member of the Connacht inter-provincial team at various times, Lane won five Railway Cup medals.

At club level he played with Ballinderreen.

Throughout his career Lane made 22 championship appearances for Galway.

Lane made his senior inter-county debut on 9 October 1977 in a 4–13 to 1–10 defeat by Clare in the opening round of the National Hurling League.

He was subsequently included on the starting fifteen for Galway's unsuccessful championship campaign.

In 1978 Lane was one of the key forwards as Ballinderreen reached the senior championship decider for the first time in over forty years.

Ardrahan provided the opposition with the game ending in stalemate.

The subsequent replay also ended in a draw, however, a period of extra-time saw Ardrahan win by 2–18 to 2–14.

In 1979 Galway later shocked four-in-a-row hopefuls Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final and qualified for an All-Ireland final showdown with Kilkenny.

In one of the worst All-Ireland finals of the decade, Tipperary-born Galway goalkeeper Séamus Shinnors had an absolute nightmare of a game.

A 70-yards free by Liam "Chunky" O'Brien after just four minutes dipped, hit off Shinnors and ended up in the Galway net.

Galway fought back and went two points up twelve minutes into the second half, however, they failed to score for the rest of the game.

Four minutes before the end of the game another long-range free for Kilkenny ended up in the net behind Shinnors.

It was a score which summed up the day for Lane's side as Kilkenny went on to win by 2–12 to 1–8.

In spite of this defeat Lane's goal in the final was named goal of the year.

In 1980 Galway defeated Kildare and Offaly to reach a second consecutive All-Ireland final.

Munster champions Limerick provided the opposition on this occasion and an exciting championship decider followed.

Lane nearly didn't make it to the throw-in after he was accidentally hit by in the head by a hurley running out onto the pitch, however, his injury was stitched up and he played a full part.

Bernie Forde and P. J. Molloy goals for Galway meant that the men from the west led by 2–7 to 1–5 at half-time.

Éamonn Cregan single-handedly launched the Limerick counter-attack in the second-half.

Over the course of the game he scored 2–7, including an overhead goal and a point in which he showed the ball to full-back Conor Hayes and nonchalantly drove the ball over the bar.

It was not enough to stem the tide and Galway went on to win the game by 2–15 to 3–9.

1981 saw Galway reach a third consecutive All-Ireland final and Offaly were the opponents.

Everything seemed to be going well for Lane's side as Galway hoped to capture a second consecutive All-Ireland title.

Offaly 'keeper Damien Martin was doing great work in batting out an almost certain Galway goal early in the second-half.

With twenty-three minutes left in the game Galway led by six points, however, they failed to score for the rest of the game.

His retirement came following the conclusion of the 1990 championship.

Lane is widely regarded as one of Galway's greatest hurlers.

He has often been voted onto teams made up of the sport's greats, including at left corner-forward on the Galway Hurling Team of the Millennium.

After his retirement, Lane became involved in team management and coaching.

During a two-year term as manager of the Galway senior hurlers, he guided the team to an All-Ireland final appearance.

Lane attended Our Lady's College in Gort, however, he found it difficult to break onto the school's senior hurling team.