Christy Toye

Christy Toye (born 10 March 1983) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for St Michael's and also, formerly, for the Donegal county team.

Christy Toye
Personal information
Irish name Criostóir Ó Tuathaigh[1]
Sport Gaelic football
Position Right Half Forward
Born (1983-03-10) 10 March 1983
Letterkenny, Ireland
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Club(s)
Years Club
2001–
 St Michael's
Inter-county(ies)
Years County Apps (scores)
2002–2016
 Donegal 65 (Championship only)[2][3]
Inter-county titles
Ulster titles 3
All-Irelands 1
NFL 1
All Stars 0

He captained his county in Brian McIver's first season in charge (2005).[4]

Along with his fellow club mate Colm McFadden, he would have been considered one of the mature elder statesman of the Donegal senior football panel, until his retirement from inter-county football in 2017.[5]

Among other accolades, he has one All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (2012), three Ulster Senior Football Championships (2011, 2012 and 2014) and one National Football League (2007). He captained Donegal in the 2006 Ulster Senior Football Championship Final at Croke Park, appeared as a substitute for Leo McLoone against Mayo in the 2012 All-Ireland Final and was named to start against Kerry in the 2014 All-Ireland Final. He made a total of 65 Championship appearances, a record he shares with Donegal teammate Karl Lacey.[2][3]

College

He captained a team to the Sigerson Cup.[6]

Inter-county

Toye's mother's name is Rosemary.[4]

Toye and Colm McFadden were in the same class at primary school; they played in (and won) the Ted Webb under-16 tournament, the same year they were part of the county minor team.[7]

He started the first game of Brian McEniff's last spell as Donegal manager, a league defeat to Galway in Tuam in February 2003.[8]

Toye burst onto the national scene with goals in the Championship against Meath in 2002 and Armagh in 2003, both at Croke Park.[9] The goal against Armagh, in the 2003 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final, was the first goal conceded by the then reigning All-Ireland SFC champions in eight championship games going back to the previous year's semi-final, and gave Donegal a half-time lead; Toye accompanied it with a point but Donegal lost the game.[10] He played for Donegal against Armagh in the 2004 Ulster Senior Football Championship Final at Croke Park, but went off injured and was replaced by Rory Kavanagh.[11] He captained Donegal in the 2006 Ulster Senior Football Championship Final against the same opponents at the same venue.[12] He was a member of the Donegal team that won the National Football League in 2007, playing from the start to the end in the final against Mayo.[13]

In 2009, while in the form of his life, Toye ruptured his Achilles tendon during an All-Ireland qualifier against Clare at MacCumhaill Park.[9] He was left as a spectator when Armagh knocked Donegal from the 2010 Championship in Crossmaglen.[9] However, Toye returned the following season, rejuvenated by the arrival of Jim McGuinness as manager. He did not feature in the NFL or Ulster campaign but was sprung from the bench in the 2011 All-Ireland quarter-final against Kildare at Croke Park. Within 25 seconds of his first appearance in 25 months he had the ball in the back of the Kildare net, later making a further vital contribution by scoring the final equalising point of a game which Donegal went on to narrowly win through a memorable point from Kevin Cassidy in extra-time.[9] Toye had previously scored a goal for Donegal at Croke Park in a 2003 All-Ireland semi-final.[14] Indeed, with four goals, Toye is Donegal's record goalscorer at Croke Park — one goal each against Meath (2002), Armagh (2003), Cork (2006), and Kildare (2011).[15] He also scored a goal in the 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qualifier defeat of Galway at Croke Park, finishing into the corner of the net in injury-time.[16]

He came on as a second-half substitute for Leo McLoone in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, won by Donegal.[17] He missed the entire 2013 season while battling trigeminal neuralgia but was back in 2014 in time for another shot at the All-Ireland.[18][19][9] On 20 September 2014, he was named to start against Kerry in the following day's All-Ireland Final.[1][20][21]

In January 2017, Toye retired from the inter-county game.[22]

Club

Toye's club have not had much success at senior level. They reached the final of the 2011 Donegal Senior Football Championship—their first ever senior final—but lost, though Toye scored three points.[23][24]

Previously, in 2004, they reached the final of All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship, in which Toye scored a point.[25]

Other work

Toye has been active in encouraging people to read more books.[26]

Legacy

The "languid" style of Michael Langan has been compared favourably to that of Toye.[27]

Honours
Donegal
St Michael's

References
  1. "Countdown to Croker: Donegal name 'team' for All-Ireland final". 20 September 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  2. O'Brien, Kevin (31 August 2017). "Donegal's Karl Lacey announces his retirement from inter-county football: Lacey won one All-Ireland and four All-Stars during an exceptional 14-year career". The42.ie. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  3. Farrell, Sinead (5 October 2017). "Karl Lacey an 'excellent choice' for new Donegal backroom team: McEniff — The recently retired defender is reported to be joining the Donegal backroom team in the coming days". The42.ie. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  4. McNulty, Chris (1 February 2013). "Roisin follows a proud tradition". Donegal News. Retrieved 1 February 2013. Seven years after her cousin Christy — son of her aunt, Rosemary — took the armband during Brian McIver's first year in Donegal…
  5. Foley, Alan (11 September 2012). "Forward thinking McFadden". Donegal Democrat. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  6. O'Kane, Cahair (23 May 2022). "McCole finding his way". The Irish News. Retrieved 23 May 2022. In captaining the team, McCole added his name to those of Jim McGuinness and Christy Toye as winning Sigerson captains to hail from Donegal.
  7. Scott, Ronan (19 March 2020). "Donegal legend McFadden recalls impact made by Jim McGuinness". Gaelic Life. Retrieved 19 March 2020. Also published as "Colm Rain or Shine" in the Donegal News of the same date, 19 March 2020: pp 50–53.
  8. Duggan, Keith (3 February 2003). "Meehan adds spark to Galway attack". The Irish Times.
  9. Foley, Alan (16 September 2014). "Serious illness meant Christy Toye didn't play in 2013 but now he's set for All-Ireland final: The Donegal player has experienced a remarkable revival". The42.ie. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  10. "Armagh's double still alive". Irish Independent. 1 September 2003.
  11. "Awesome Armagh destroy Donegal". RTÉ Sport. 11 July 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2004. Rory Kavanagh replaced the injured Christy Toye just before the break as two more McKeever points extended Armagh's lead to eight — 1–9 to 0–4.
  12. "Donegal 0–09 1–09 Armagh". BBC Sport. 9 July 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  13. "Donegal achieve historic win — First national league title comes to county after victory over Mayo". Donegal Times. 25 April 2007. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  14. McNulty, Chris (1 August 2011). "A goal-den moment for Christy Toye". Donegal News. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  15. Foley, Alan (23 August 2011). "A Toye's own story". Donegal Democrat. Retrieved 23 August 2011. The goal was the 28-year-old's fourth at Croke Park in championship football — following strikes against Meath in 2002, Armagh a year later and then Cork in 2006 — which is a feat matched by no man from the county.
  16. Keane, Paul (1 August 2015). "Round 4B: Brilliant Donegal dismantle Galway". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  17. "Live updates from the All-Ireland finals at Croke Park". RTÉ Sport. 23 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  18. McNulty, Chris (3 February 2014). "'Brilliant' Christy Toye display the highlight for Jim McGuinness on useful opening day". Donegal News. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  19. McNulty, Chris (29 September 2013). "Ciaran Bonner, Leon Thompson and Christy Toye among 'new' faces for Donegal". Donegal News. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  20. "Two changes to Donegal All-Ireland SFC final team". RTÉ Sport. 20 September 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  21. "Team news: Toye and McBrearty in". Hogan Stand. 20 September 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  22. O'Brien, Kevin (10 January 2017). "Trio of Donegal All-Ireland winners announce their retirement from inter-county football". The42.ie. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  23. "Murphy is the star as Glenswilly triumph". The Irish Times. 2 October 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  24. "Murphy magic proves key as Glenswilly secure first Donegal crown". Irish Independent. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  25. "Easy in the end for Ilen". Irish Independent. 26 April 2004.
  26. "Donegal sporting stars encouraging students to read more books". Highland Radio. 9 April 2016.
  27. Craig, Frank (7 January 2022). "Langan: We're very close to clicking". Gaelic Life. Retrieved 7 January 2022. In such a structured environment, there is often very little room or even encouragement in modern Gaelic football for improvisation or off-the-cuff individualism. But Langan is a throwback to a different time. Even in Jim McGuinness'[sic] often rigid template, if things weren't going to plan Christy Toye's instinctive genius was often summoned for… 'There are some comparisons made between myself and Christy, we have a sort of languid style. We do like to play off the cuff. But I think that is just having belief in yourself to take on responsibility if the half chance presents itself. Christy did that so many times for Donegal over the years'. Also published as "We're very close to clicking — Langan" in the Donegal News of 30 December 2021: p 54.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
???
 Donegal Senior Captain
200? - 2007		 Succeeded by
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