A disparate quartet of famous Galwegians – two golfers, a geneticist and leading academic – are among the new names to make the cut for the latest edition of the Dictionary of Irish Biography.

Christy O’Connor Sr and Jr, geneticist Patrick ‘Mike’ Conneally, and academic and business leader Ivor Kenny are among the 29 new biographical entries to its open access database – twenty-eight new entries alongside an extensive revision of an existing entry.

The O’Connors – both of whom died in 2016 – owe their inclusion to their sterling sporting careers – most famously through their heroics in the Ryder Cup.

Christy O’Connor Sr, who played in ten Ryder Cups and was introduced to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009, and Christy O’Connor Jr who famously defeated Fred Couples in 1985 with one of the greatest iron shots in the history of the iconic event.

Salthill-born Ivor Kenny, son of the Connacht Tribune’s founder and long-serving first editor Tom ‘Cork’ Kenny, was Director of the Irish Management Institute from 1962–1992. He modernised Irish business education, published influential management texts, and advised government on economic reform.

And pioneering geneticist, Patrick (‘Mike’) Conneally – or P. Michael Conneally – who died in 2017, is also included, famed for his research on human genetics which helped identify genes linked to Huntington’s Disease and Alzheimer’s. Conneally, from Ballygar, was a founding figure in genome mapping and the Human Genome Project.

Journalism, publishing and broadcasting feature prominently in the new entries. The beloved ‘Memory man’ Jimmy Magee (d. 2017) was one of Ireland’s most recognisable sporting commentators, his voice accompanying fifteen Olympic Games.

Like Magee, the future head of RTÉ Sport Fred Cogley (d. 2017) had an early start in the 1950s as a contributor to the state broadcaster’s Junior sports magazine. He was the voice of rugby commentary and presenter of RTÉ’s flagship Saturday afternoon sports show, Sports stadium.

John Mulcahy (d. 2018) founded both the Sunday Tribune and The Phoenix magazine.

The performing arts are well represented too; Biddy White Lennon (d. 2017) was both a food writer and the actress who portrayed Maggie Nael in The Riordans, while Doreen Keogh (d. 2017) made her name on Coronation Street as the show’s first barmaid before a long stage and screen career.

Speaking about the newly published entries, Dr Eoin Kinsella, Managing Editor of DIB, said that they reflected the DIB’s ongoing commitment ‘to telling Ireland’s life story and to uncovering and celebrating lives that might otherwise be overlooked, ensuring that the island’s complex and diverse history continue to be told in full’.

The DIB was launched in 2009 after many years of research by hundreds of contributors and its online edition now features almost 11,000 lives and continues to grow. Find out more at www.dib.ie.

Pictured: Christy O’Connor Senior and Junior on the day they were both conferred with Honorary Degrees at NUIG in 2006. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.