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.
[1][2][3] Born in Ballyglass, County Galway, Lane first played competitive hurling while at school in Our Lady's College, Gort.
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.
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.
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.
In 1978 Lane was one of the key forwards as Ballinderreen reached the senior championship decider for the first time in over forty years.
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.
[4] 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.
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.
[5] 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.
Four Cork goals, one from John Fenton, two from Tomás Mulcahy and one from Kevin Hennessy, stymied the Galway attack and helped "the Rebels" to a 4–13 to 2–15 victory.
Galway had defeated Tipperary in the previous year's semi-final, making the final a highly anticipated rematch.
Despite a late penalty from Nicky English, which was sent over the bar for a point, Galway secured a 1–15 to 0–14 victory, earning Lane his third All-Ireland medal.
He collected a second National League medal that year after entering the game midway during Galway's victory over Tipperary with a score of 2–16 to 4–8.
On 11 October 2000, Lane defeated incumbent Mattie Murphy by 33 votes to 21 to become manager of the Galway senior hurling team.
[10] In his opening season Lane's team surrendered their National League crown, however, a shock All-Ireland semi-final defeat of reigning champions Kilkenny propelled Galway to a championship showdown with old rivals Tipperary.
Born in Ballyglass, County Galway, Lane was educated at the local national school before later attending Our Lady's College in Gort.