Super Bowl legend has roots in fields of Athenry!

He’s arguably the greatest star American Football has ever seen – but, were in not for history and a quirk of fate, Super Bowl hero Tom Brady might well have shone on a different sporting field…in the maroon of Galway and Athenry!

The legendary quarter-back, who won his seventh final during the early hours of Monday morning, may have several Irish touchstones – but among them is a man called John Lally, born in Athenry in 1892 who looks likely to have been his great-great-great grandfather.

That’s according to research published by Martin Curley, the Mountbellew-based genealogist and DNA ‘detective’ who runs the Soghain Genes Facebook page. The Soghain were the people of east Galway; chief of which were the O Mannions.

“I’m in touch with Tom Brady’s second cousins who have provided a nice short family history written in the eighties detailing the genealogy and DNA – and also confirming the Galway connection,” he revealed.

“Tom’s Galway ancestry is traced through his grandmother, Margaret Buckley, whose mother was Barbara Lally, who was born in 1877 and died in 1938, explained Martin.

“Barbara was second generation Staffordshire Irish, whose grandfather was John Lally (1829-1904) who may have been from Athenry according to one online tree,” he added.

Find out the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download our digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie