Martin Gavigan

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{{Short description|Donegal Gaelic footballer}}

Martin Gavigan is an old Gaelic footballer who played as a defender for Ard an Rátha, the Donegal county team and the Ireland international rules football team.

He was a member of Donegal's 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning team. He played for the county from 1988 until 1995.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

He played against Armagh in the 1990 Ulster final, won by Donegal.{{cite news|first=Chris|last=McNulty|url=http://www.donegalsporthub.com/donegals-1990-ulster-winners-will-be-honoured-tomorrow-heres-their-story/|title=Donegal's 1990 Ulster winners will be honoured tomorrow — here is their story|date=18 July 2015|access-date=18 July 2015}}

He started at centre-back in the 1992 All-Ireland Final as Donegal defeated Dublin by a scoreline of 0–18 to 0–14. He would win an All Star in 1992 too.{{cite news|first=Alan|last=Foley|url=http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/donegalsport/The-heroes-of--3992.4856965.jp|title=The heroes of '92 — Where are they now?|work=Donegal Democrat|date=8 January 2009|accessdate=8 January 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218180946/http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/sport/the-heroes-of-92-where-are-they-now-1-1989654|archive-date=18 December 2015}}

Known as "Rambo", he was a schoolteacher.{{cite news|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/donegal/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=80294|title=Ardara's Martin Gavigan: The man the Donegal fans call 'Rambo'|work=Hogan Stand|date=30 April 1993}} In 1992, Hogan Stand was able to indicate that: "Even objective observers of the game in Donegal recognised that the Shovlin, Gavigan and Reid combination probably represented the best line of defence in the country. The Dublin trio of Curran, Carr and Heery were the only other combination which vied for that tag, it was suggested".{{cite news|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/county/donegal/article/index/63005|title=Reid, Donal|work=Hogan Stand|date=31 July 1992}}

He vice-captained Ireland for the 1990 Tour of Australia.

In May 2012, the Irish Independent named him in its selection of Donegal's "greatest team" spanning the previous 50 years.{{cite news|url=https://www.donegaldaily.com/2012/05/14/gaa-donegals-greatest-team-of-the-last-50-years-named/|title=GAA: Donegal's greatest team of the past 50 years named|date=14 May 2012|access-date=14 May 2012}}

He got married the Saturday after the 1992 All-Ireland final.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM9YcGR6wYI&t=1h00m29s|title=1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Final: Dublin v Donegal|website=YouTube|date=21 March 2020}} His brother Luke also featured for Donegal. Luke's son (and Martin's nephew), Luke Jnr, based with the Seán Mac Cumhaills club, captained the Donegal under-20 team that reached the 2020 Ulster final.{{cite news|first=Frank|last=Craig|title=[Luke] Gavigan wary of Tyrone threat|work=Donegal News|date=5 March 2020|page=77|quote=Luke Gavigan… the Tir Chonaill skipper… comes from formidable footballing stock. His dad Luke was a member of the Donegal senior football squad that won the 1992 All-Ireland title. His uncle Martin… also vice-captained the victorious 1990 Ireland Compromise Rules side that toured Australia. The MacCumhaills clubman says…}}{{cite news|first=Neil|last=Loughran|url=https://www.irishnews.com/sport/gaafootball/2020/03/09/news/second-half-scoring-spree-sees-tyrone-land-ulster-title-as-donegal-are-left-to-rue-black-card-1861780/|title=Second half scoring spree sees Tyrone land Ulster title as Donegal rue black card|work=The Irish News|date=9 March 2020|access-date=9 March 2020}}