Patsy Breen was a former Gaelic footballer who played for St Martin's GAC, Desertmartin and the Derry county team between 1950 and 1960.
[1] Desertmartin reached the 1951 and 1952 Derry Senior Football Championship finals, but lost both,[1] to Dungiven and Éire Óg respectively.
[1] In 1955 Breen was part of the Derry team that reached the Ulster Senior Football Championship final[1] for the first time in 34 years.
[1] On 24 August, Derry caused one of the biggest shocks in the history of Gaelic football[3] when the first-time Ulster Champions beat Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final 2–06 to 2–05.
[4] The 1950s was a decade of very high standards of football and was a very difficult era to win an All-Ireland, with the likes of Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Louth, Cavan, Meath and Dublin having very strong teams at the time.
[1] Among his managerial successes are leading Ardboe O'Donovan Rossa to four Tyrone Senior Football Championship titles,[1] including three in a row between 1971 ad 1973.