07/10/2026
ON THIS DATE: 70 years ago
7th October 1956
"The Terrible Twins" helped the Tribesmen to claim the 1956 All-Ireland SFC title.
During the 1950's, one of the GAA's legendary partnerships, Frank Stockwell and his renowned team-mate in the Galway forward line, Sean Purcell, terrorised rival defenders to the extent that they became known as 'The Terrible Twins'.
With Purcell supplying the ball from centre forward, Stockwell was a lethal finisher at full forward.
Years later, Sean Purcell described the instinctive relationship between the "Terrible Twins".
"At centre forward, myself and Frank had a great knowledge of each other's game. Frank was a very experienced player at that time and I was too. We just managed to click together. There was nothing too organised about it. We just took it naturally."
They were both born in Tuam, in December, 1928, within 10 days of each other, and they remained lifelong close friends.
Together, they inspired Galway's 2-13 to 3-07 victory over Cork in the 1956 All-Ireland final, and they combined for many other major triumphs, including the 1957 National League title, 3 Railway Cups and a number of Connacht Championship medals. Supplied with ball by his long-standing friend and team-mate, Stockwell scored 2-5 (and had another goal disallowed) in the 1956 All-Ireland final, which remains a record for the 60-minute finals.
'The Terrible Twins' first played together on the Galway senior football team in the 1948 Connacht Championship. Purcell played on until 1962; Stockwell retired after the 1960 All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Kerry.
Also at club level, they were the leaders of the great Tuam Stars seven-in-a-row team, which went unbeaten in the Galway Senior Football Championship from 1954 to 1960.
