Tony Boyle (Gaelic footballer)
Tony Boyle is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for An Clochán Liath and the Donegal county team.
Boyle is from Keadue, County Donegal. He is often regarded as one of Donegal's finest ever footballers.
Boyle made 107 appearances for Donegal.
At the age of 19, he made his championship debut as a second-half substitute appearance for Tommy Ryan against Armagh in the 1990 Ulster Senior Football Championship final, won by Donegal. With the game level, he found Manus Boyle, who scored a critical point.
He was a member of Donegal's 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winning team and played for the county from 1992 until 2001. He played as a forward and started at full-forward in the 1992 All-Ireland Final, scoring a point from play as Donegal defeated Dublin by a scoreline of 0–18 to 0–14.
Boyle and Noel Hegarty were the least experienced of Donegal's men on the pitch that day. Boyle only came into the team for the Ulster semi-final against Fermanagh. He outplayed his opposite number 14, the much mentioned Dublin's Vinnie Murphy, in the All-Ireland final.
Boyle would also win an All Star in 1992.
Boyle went on to manage under-16 and minor ladies' football teams for his home club. He, alongside Tommy Ryan, was part of John Joe Doherty's backroom team when Doherty managed Donegal.
In May 2012, the Irish Independent named Boyle in its selection of Donegal's "greatest team" spanning the previous 50 years.
Silver Jubilee Football Team of the Ulster GAA Writers Association nomination: 2012
