Paul Barden (Gaelic footballer)

Paul Barden (born 1 July 1980)^[1] is a former Gaelic footballer who played at senior level for the Longford county team from October 1998 until February 2015 when he announced his retirement. He was the longest serving inter-county player in the country until his retirement. He won an O'Byrne Cup medal with them in 2000, he also won 2 O'Byrne Shield medals in 2006 and 2007. He was also a member of the Ireland international rules football team in 2002 and 2006.^[2] He also won a Railway Cup with Leinster in 2001 and 2002.^[3] In 2011, he captained Longford to victory over Roscommon in the National Football League Div 4 final at Croke Park and in 2012, Longford were back at Croke Park, this time for the Division 3 final and again won beating Wexford with Barden once again captain.^[4]

He plays his club football with Clonguish^[5] with whom he won 3 Longford Senior Football Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2009. He also plays hurling with the club and won Longford Senior Hurling Championships in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2019 .^[6]

In 2020 he was voted the best Longford Footballer of the past 50 years (1970-2020) in an Irish Independent poll of top 20 Longford footballers.^[7][8]