Niall McInerney (8 May 1949 – 22 November 2004[1][2]) was an Irish hurler who played as a right corner-back for the Clare and Galway senior teams.
As a member of the Connacht inter-provincial team at various times, McInerney won three Railway Cup medal.
In the mid sixties McInerney first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Clare minor hurling team.
McInerney made his senior championship debut with Galway on 7 July 1974 in a 3–19 to 4–10 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat of Kildare.
[8] In one of the worst All-Ireland finals of the decade, 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.
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.
[9] It was Galway's first All-Ireland title since 1923, with McInerney picking up a winners' medal and the celebrations surpassed anything ever seen in Croke Park.
McInerney played his last championship game on 7 August 1983, when Galway were defeated by Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final.
A 0–10 to 1–5 victory gave McInerney his third Railway Cup medal, while the province retained the title for the first time in their history.
McInerney later married Mary Gilmore, a medical doctor from Moylough and the couple had three sons: Shane, Daragh and Niall.