Background
Finlay was born in Ballycuddy, County Laois in 1890.
Finlay was born in Ballycuddy, County Laois in 1890.
He had a love of hurling from a young age and soon joined his local club Ballygeehan. After winning the county title in 1914 the club had a major say in the selection of the inter-county team for the following year. This victory set up an All-Ireland final meeting with Cork, who were red-hot favourites.
Laois had no great hurling tradition and this was shown when Cork scored three goals.
Finlay became the only player from Laois to captain an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winning team He lost his seat at the 1938 general election.
Jack Finlay died on 30 September 1942.
In later life Finlay entered politics, and was elected to Dáil Éireann as a National Centre Party Teachta Dála (Territorial Decoration) for the Leix–Offaly constituency at the 1933 general election. He was re-elected at the 1937 general election for the same constituency as a Fine Gael Territorial Decoration.