| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Forward | ||
| Born | 1 July 1980 County Longford, Ireland | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Club titles | |||
| Football | Hurling | ||
| Longford titles | 3 | 5 | |
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | ||
1999 - 2015 | Longford | ||
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Football | Hurling | ||
| League titles | 2 | ||
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]