Liam Leech was a Louth legend
February 05, 2019
Former Louth and Newtown Blues great Liam Leech
The late Liam Leech will be fondly remembered as one of Louth’s greatest-ever footballers.
A Newtown Blues icon, Liam collected no fewer than nine Louth SFC winners medals with the Newfoundwell club between 1961 and ’74, striking gold in ‘61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 69, 70 and ‘74. Jimmy Mulroy, Matt Murphy and Jim ‘Blackie’ Judge were the other three men who starred in all nine of those magnificent Joe Ward Cup successes.
Liam joined the Blues from Lourdes Rangers as a teenager in 1956 and remained a driving force for two decades. He featured on the side that claimed the junior championship in ’58, marking the return of the Blues as a senior force. A fast, skilful and elusive wing forward, Liam followed in the footsteps of his father, Joe, who won SFC honours in the 1920s.
Indeed, the Leech family are synonymous with gaelic football in Drogheda. Liam’s brother, Podge, was a team-mate on the Blues side beaten in the 1965 county final by an O’Raghallaighs team featuring their brothers, Mickey and Joey!
Captain of the all-conquering 1966 team, Liam Leech was Louth’s top scorer in 1962, 64, 65 and 66 and he also tasted Railway Cup glory in an era when the interprovincial competition was regarded as the highest honour of all. A truly phenomenal footballer, the Wee County great was honoured by a host of club and county players past and present at his funeral mass in Drogheda on Sunday.
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