101. Des McMahon, Architect Of The New Croker

By hiring the former Tyrone footballer for the project, the GAA got the ideal man to tell the world where they were coming from and where they were trying to go. His cathedral didn't just do the GAA proud but made all Irish people proud. (1941-)

102. John 'Kerry' O'Donnell, The Don Of Gaelic Park

Having sold some of his own properties to prevent Gaelic Park from being lost to the GAA in 1941, this self-made man gave the Irish community a focal point with a social, cultural and economic significance far beyond the matches it hosted. The lifeblood of the games in New York for half a century, Kerry-born O'Donnell helped organise the 1947 Polo Grounds All Ireland, introduced beer companies as tournament sponsors decades before Guinness discovered hurling, and promoted the first GAA world tours in the 1960s. Befitting a businessman with a maverick streak, and an administrator who ran his fiefdom as an independent republic, he regularly butted heads with Croke Park. (1899-1994)

103. John Doyle, Rock Of Cashel Made Flesh

Eight All Ireland medals, 11 National League medals and nobody within an ass's roar of him as the choice for left-corner back on the Teams of the Century/Millennium. The Premierview website sums it up perfectly. "John Doyle remains the ultimate hurling icon in a county that likes its heroes uncomplicated, courageous and consistent. He probably best represents how Tipperary hurling sees itself." (1930-)

104. Jack O'Shea, Best Of The Best

In a magazine column in the mid-'80s, Ger Canning recalled watching kids playing on an estate green. The first youngster declared he'd be Maradona. The second shouted "I'll be Jacko!" That's the kind of mainstream appeal O'Shea held when there was the last real public debate about who was the greatest footballer ever. Whatever about that, he was the best player on the best team ever. (1957-)

105. Jim Kennedy, The Man Behind The Ladies

In 1971 ladies football was confined to a few clubs in Waterford but that October the Waterford chairman, Fr Percy Ahearn, along with an army sergeant and Congo veteran called Jim Kennedy organised the first inter-county game. Kennedy's Tipperary won and in 1974 in Hayes Hotel, 90 years after the GAA itself was formed there, the ladies football association was born with Kennedy its first president. That same year he served as a selector to the Tipp side that won the sport's first All Ireland. "Ladies football is a serious business," he'd tell reporters. "It's not just a gimmick or flash in the pan." How right he was. (1925-)

106. Liam Griffin, King Of The Pikemen

Hurling's finest unpaid PR man; "the Riverdance of sport" indeed. What a shame he couldn't hang around as a manager for more than two years. As to what he influenced, well, we can think of 30 Wexford men whose lives he influenced profoundly while his use of Niamh Fitzpatrick helped give sports psychology a good name. Subsequently instrumental on the Hurling Development Committee that established the Ring and Rackard Cups and allowed the Armagh and Sligo hurlers their long-overdue day in the sun in Croker. (1945-)

107. Mick Dunne, Father Of The All Stars

For a generation this Laois man was the voice and face of Saturday afternoons. When fans survived on televised scraps of games, Dunne fronted Gaelic Stadium, the segment of Sports Stadium given over to reviews and previews. Formerly with the Irish Press, he became RTÉ's first Gaelic Games' correspondent in 1970, a pioneering remit that had him commentating on everything from All Ireland finals to the weekly handball staple Top Ace. From the 1960s, he'd been pushing the idea of a formalised annual All Stars for players, and his enthusiasm, assisted by Paddy Downey, John D Hickey and Pádraig Puirseál, gave birth to the awards in 1971. (1929-2002)

108. Jim McKeever, Angel Who Caught Angels

His fielding exploits inspired generations of both Derry and Ulster footballers – including fellow Ballymaguigan clubman Eamonn Coleman. Even Mick O'Connell himself would say he was the best fielder he encountered. Along with Joe Lennon and Jim McDonnell, McKeever ran the first-ever residential GAA coaching course in Gormanston in 1964, while as head of PE at St Joseph's and Mary's teacher-training college, his cerebral, mannered way influenced coaches like Art McRory, Mickey Harte, Peter Canavan and Peter McGinnity. "That man," McRory would later say, "has done more to promote the GAA than any other person I know." (1931-)

109. Seamus Ó RíAIN, Man Who Helped Mol An Óige

Hurler, footballer, athlete, handballer, Gaelgeoir and writer who penned an acclaimed biography of Maurice Davin. The club development scheme to provide finance for the wave of new social centres for GAA clubs in the 1970s was initiated largely at his behest, likewise the handball court in Croke Park. His greatest legacy is the establishment of the juvenile hurling extravaganza, Féile na nGael. (1916-2007)

110. Peter Canavan, The Best Small Man Ever

The best small man ever, the best exponent of the free out of the hand and a founding member of the GPA, Canavan helped redefine the possibilities for a footballer on and off the field. (1971-)

111. John Dowling, A Different Kind Of Dual Star

In 1960 he became the first man to referee both the senior hurling and football All Ireland finals. In the mid-'60s he took over as Offaly secretary and by the time he'd left he had overseen the arrival of Sam Maguire, Diarmuid Healy and consequently, Liam MacCarthy. As president of the GAA in the late '80s his great achievement was getting agreement from Belvedere and the church authorities to sell the strip of land alongside the old Croke Park on which the new stadium is situated. (1930- 2002)

112. Liam MacCarthy, He Gave A Little...

The son of a couple from Ballygarvan in Cork, MacCarthy was born in London where he'd immerse himself in all things Irish – the Gaelic League, St Vincent de Paul, the Legion of Mary, the IRB, and naturally, the GAA. For more than 10 years he served as either president or secretary of the London board. In 1921 he donated a trophy modelled on the ancient Irish-loving cup, Gaelic Meither, for the All Ireland hurling championship. It would be another six years before friends of his successor as secretary, the deceased Sam Maguire, offered a cup for football. (1853-1928)

113. Danny Murphy, The Progressive Conservative

Not so long ago the Ulster Council secretary would have had a reputation for being a surly conservative but the reality is the Down man governs the most efficient and professional provincial council in the history of the association. He has eased Ulster GAA into the realities of the post-ceasefire era and dealing with the security forces and its GAA teams, the Maze project and Stormont itself. And where do you think the GAA's new strategic plan got the idea of a Club Maith certificate scheme from? Yep, Ulster and Danny. (1950-)

114. John O'Mahony, The Western Leader

The only Connacht manager in the last 40 years to deliver Sam Maguire, though his greatest coaching job was with Leitrim in 1994. Even that would be trumped if he could bring Sam back to Mayo. (1953-)

115. Mick Higgins, Eleven Summers, 11 Finals

In a career beginning in 1943 and stretching for 11 summers, he played in 11 consecutive Ulster finals for Cavan, winning eight. On three occasions, including the Polo Grounds in 1947, the team hallmarked by Higgins's cerebral and prolific contributions from centre-forward, went on to take Sam Maguire. A subsequent seven-year stint as manager yielded another four provincial titles and, during that run, he somehow managed to simultaneously steer Longford to the 1966 National Football League and their first Leinster title two years later. Brian McEniff would enlist his services to help Donegal to their first Ulster in 1972. (1922-)

116. PJ Devlin, The GAA's First Propagandist

A clubmate of Cusack's, this Armagh man wielded considerable influence both on Central Council and in print; his pioneering 'Celt' columns and Gaelic Athletic Annual were considered the most reflective voice of the GAA's outlook in the first quarter of the 20th century, particularly on contentious issues like the bans on foreign sports and the security forces. (1880-1942)

117. Gerry Arthurs, Hand That Steadied The Till

When Eoin O'Duffy was booted out in 1934 as treasurer of the Ulster Convention, the province's finances were in both a mess and the red. Arthurs though would bring such stability to the post, he'd still be its treasurer 42 years later. That's why Clones has a stand named after him. (1904- 1991)

118. Henry Shefflin, The Latest Cool Cat

His provincial debut, against Laois in 1999, coincided with Brian Cody's championship bow as manager; the rest you know. With six All Irelands and counting, Ring and Doyle's record of eight is in sight. (1979-)

119. Dr George Sigerson, The Generous Professor

There was no intervarsity GAA competition until this poet from Strabane instigated one by offering up a trophy in 1911 for football. A year after the UCD professor's gesture, Dr Edwin Fitzgibbon, a Capuchin priest and Professor of Philosophy in UCC, offered one for hurling. They remain the longest-serving trophies in the GAA. (1836-1925)

120. Dessie Ryan

Back in 2002, the late, great Eamonn Coleman was asked who he rated as football's greatest coach. Micko? No. Kevin Heffernan? No. Billy Morgan? No. "Dessie Ryan," he replied. "He was years ahead of his time."

A fireman in New York for 25 years, Ryan returned home briefly to take Ballinderry to an Ulster club title in 1982 with a level of analysis and preparation that was unheard of at the time. But the best was yet to come. Between 1998 and 2000 he turned Queen's into the closest thing to a football academy this island has seen, picking up the 2000 Sigerson along the way.

The confidence he gave the likes of Tom Brewster propelled the rise of Fermanagh. Four of the Armagh back six from the 2002 All Ireland final win played under him too. In fact, 13 of the Armagh and Tyrone squads from the 2003 decider had attended Queen' s and learned from him the style of defensive and set-play football that has revolutionised the sport. (1940-)

121. Con Murphy, The Freeman Of Cork

He won four All Ireland hurling finals and refereed another two before serving 17 years as Cork secretary, playing a huge role in the construction of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. As GAA president from 1976 to 1978, Murphy distinguished himself by taking up the cudgels on behalf of beleagured Crossmaglen Rangers, personally taking the case of their occupied pitch to the British government. (1922-2007)

122. Joe Rafferty, The First Lilywhite

If one series of games popularised Gaelic football, it was the three-game saga between Kerry and Kildare for the 1903 All Ireland; as the legendary Dick Fitzgerald would say, "Both counties gave football a fillip that marked the starting point of the game as we know it." Up to then the biggest attendance for a football game had been 10,000. The second Kerry-Kildare game drew 18,000. The Kildare captain was a big reason why. It was he who pushed for Kildare to wear an all-white strip and even white boots 80 years before Gerry McInerney tried it out. Forty years before Christy Ring would bring a hurley everywhere he drove oil, Rafferty would carry a football with him on the lands where he worked as a cowherd while 90 years before Mick O'Dwyer he had Kildare playing a possession game. Kildare would eventually finish second in the Kerry saga but Central Council at its next meeting agreed to present each Kildare player with a gold medal. (1900s footballer)

123. Joe Sherwood, Groundbreaking Editor

The serendipitous combination of the three-part All Ireland hurling final of 1931 and the simultaneous founding of the Irish Press brought interest in and coverage of Gaelic games to a new level. Sherwood, a native of Workington, Cumbria, was sports editor of the Press; he knew nothing about Gaelic games but he knew a gift horse when he saw one. For the first replay in 1931 the Press ran four days of updates from the two camps, complete with detailed pen pictures. It quickly became the paper for GAA. (Sports editor, Irish Press, 1930s)

124. Seamus Aldridge, All Kinds Of Everything

The good, for Kildare, was his influence in the supporters' club that helped attract Micko and unprecedented success. The bad was the loss of Larry Tompkins to Cork over a plane ticket. The ugly? The 1978 All Ireland final when he awarded that mysterious free against Paddy Cullen which immortalised Mikey Sheehy and shifted the balance in the greatest rivalry of them all. Twenty years after, Aldridge was still getting abusive calls. "I'm fed up with Dublin whinging. Seventeen points and they're still blaming Aldridge." (1935-)

125. MICHEÁL MURPHY, Trend Setter

Although the honour has generally been accorded to his UCC clubmate Donal Clifford, Murphy, a Blackrock clubman, was the first hurler to use a helmet. In need of cranial protection following a fractured skull he rejected an American football helmet (too big), took to an ice hockey helmet but eventually decided on the Cooper model, which he wore during the 1969 Fitzgibbon Cup. (1942-)