Michael John Mackey (12 July 1912 – 13 September 1982) was an Irish hurler who played as a centre-forward at senior level for the Limerick county team.

Mackey represented the Munster inter-provincial team for twelve years, winning eight Railway Cup medals during that period.

Deemed too young to play at the time, he made his club debut in September 1928 in a junior championship defeat of Fedamore.

In a National Hurling League game against Kilkenny on 16 November 1930, Limerick were unable to field a full team and resorted to looking for players in the crowd.

The subsequent All-Ireland final on 3 September 1933 saw a record crowd of 45,176 travel to Croke Park to see Limerick face Kilkenny.

After being level at the interval, the game remained close in the second half until a solo-run goal by Johnny Dunne sealed a 1–7 to 0–6 victory for Kilkenny.

The subsequent provincial championship saw Limerick reach the decider, where they played Waterford for the second year in a row.

Points from Mackey and Jackie O'Connell and a remarkable four goals from Dave Clohessy secured a 5–2 to 2–6 victory for Limerick.

Jack Keane issued an instruction from the sideline that Timmy Ryan, the team captain, was to take the free and put the sliotar over the bar for the equalising point.

Galway fell to Limerick in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final, however, the men from the West lost the game after walking off the pitch with fifteen minutes left.

For the third time in four years, the lure of a Kilkenny-Limerick clash brought a record crowd of over 50,000 to Croke Park for the All-Ireland decider on 6 September 1936.

Limerick's bid for a record-equalling fifth successive Munster crown came to an end in the provincial decider when Tipperary were victorious.

This certainly seemed the case in 1940 when it took two late goals from Jackie Power and a storming display by Mackey to level the Munster semi-final with Waterford.

Held scoreless for the entire thirty minutes, Mackey got the recovery underway in the second-half with a point from a seventy.

A pitch invasion scuppered the game for ten minutes, however, Limerick held on to win by 3–3 to 2–4 and Mackey collected a fifth Munster medal.

The subsequent All-Ireland decider on 1 September 1940 brought Kilkenny and Limerick together for the last great game between the two outstanding teams of the decade.

Early in the second-half Kilkenny took a four-point lead, however, once Mackey was deployed at midfield he proceeded to dominate the game.

The win gave Mackey his third All-Ireland medal, while he also joined an elite group of players who collected the Liam MacCarthy Cup more than once as captain.

Mackey played no championship hurling with Limerick in 1941, as he withdrew from the panel due to the death of his younger brother Paddy.

Cork took an early lead, however, the Ahane man kept his team in with a chance by scoring points from almost impossible angles.

He later powered past Con Murphy to score two quick goals and put Limerick in the driving seat once again.

With minutes left in the game both sides were level and Mackey launched one last attack for the winning point.

Only seconds remained when Cork's Christy Ring caught the sliotar and fired a fierce shot into the net to win the game.

Many regard this dramatic passage of play as the moment that the mantle of hurling's star player passed from Mackey to Ring.

Mackey finished off his inter-provincial career by winning back-to-back Railway Cup medals in 1945 and 1946, following respective defeats of Ulster and Connacht.

Mehigan, a contemporary Gaelic games journalist and historian, said of him: "...most elusive forward, and greatest playboy that ever handled ash, son of the great Tyler, schoolboys love him, hurling fans admire him; opposing backs fear him.

"[7] Former Wexford All-Ireland winner Billy Rackard wrote: "When it comes to selecting the greatest exponent the game has ever seen, measured opinion sees one name out of reach – above all others.

[8] Around the same time the Munster Council turned down a Limerick motion to name the province's senior hurling trophy in honour of Mackey.

In a career that lasted from 1901 until 1917, he captained Limerick in the county's unsuccessful 1910 All-Ireland title bid when Wexford were victorious by a single point.

Mackey was married to Kathleen "Kitty" Kennedy (1914–2003) and the couple had five children: Paddy, Michael, Greg, Audrey and Ruth.