Maguire, Sam

by Marie Coleman

Maguire, Sam (1877–1927), revolutionary, was born 12 March 1877 in Maulabracka, Dunmanway, Co. Cork, one of five sons and three daughters of John Maguire and Jane Maguire (née Kingston), farmers who had a substantial holding on the Shouldham estate. Educated at the Model School, Dunmanway, and Ardfield national school near Clonakilty, he joined the British civil service (November 1897) and was posted to the central sorting office in Mount Pleasant, London. A prominent figure in the GAA in London, he played football and hurling for London Hibernians. He was a member of the London Hibernians football teams that lost to the ‘home’ all-Ireland football champions in the ‘away’ finals of 1900, 1901, and 1903, captaining London on the latter two occasions. When his playing career ended he became active in GAA administration as president of the London county board, delegate to congress, and a trustee of Croke Park. He was one of the few protestants active in the association at that time.

Believed to have been initiated into the IRB by Liam MacCarthy (qv), he initiated fellow post office employee Michael Collins (qv) into the revolutionary organisation in November 1909, and is considered to have been a very important influence on Collins's political beliefs. He remained a close ally of Collins, and during the war of independence was in charge of IRA intelligence in London, where his post office job was very beneficial for such work. He was also Collins's principal contact in London for purchasing arms and smuggling them into Ireland. While the British authorities were aware that Collins had an important agent in London, they were never able to identify him. It is alleged that when Sir Henry Wilson (qv) was shot dead in London (June 1922) the order to kill him came from Collins via Sam Maguire, and that Maguire met Wilson's assassins Reginald Dunne and Joseph O'Sullivan on the evening before the shooting. A supporter of the Anglo–Irish treaty, in January 1923 Maguire returned to work in the Irish Free State civil service in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, but was dismissed in December 1924, at the instigation of Kevin O'Higgins (qv), for his part in supporting the Irish Republican Army Organisation in the army mutiny, during which he suggested the assassination of the Free State cabinet and senior army officers. His dismissal was the subject of a debate in Dáil Éireann in May 1926. Having appealed unsuccessfully against it, he returned to live in Dunmanway, where he died from tuberculosis (6 February 1927).

After his death a number of his friends, including Dr Patrick McCartan (qv), donated the Sam Maguire perpetual memorial cup to the GAA to be awarded to the winners of the all-Ireland football final, to replace the lost Croke cup. The trophy, based on the design of the Ardagh chalice, was first presented in 1928 to the Kildare captain Bill ‘Squires’ Gannon. It was replaced by a replica in 1988 and the original trophy is on display in the GAA museum in Croke Park. In 1941 a Celtic cross was erected over his grave in St Mary's Church of Ireland churchyard, Dunmanway; it was destroyed in a storm in 1960, and the GAA replaced it with an exact replica. Also in Dunmanway, Sam Maguire Park was opened in April 1974, and in September 2002 Sam Maguire Plaza, which contains a statue of Maguire.