Patrick W. Nally (13 March 1856 – 9 November 1891), athlete and Fenian.
Nally was born in Rockstown House, Balla, the eldest son of a prosperous farmer. He demonstrated great athletic ability in the 1870s, winning several prizes at events. He met Michael Cusack in Dublin in November 1879 and began discussions that would lead to the formation of the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884.
He was elected joint secretary of the Wonderland Amusement Park upon its creation on 16 August 1879 in Castlebar, but was not present and resigned.
During the 1870s he became involved with the Irish Republican Brotherhood and by 1880 was a member of the Supreme Council. He was forced into exile in that year, only returning to Ireland in 1882. In 1883 he was arrested in what was known as the Crossmolina conspiracy, tried and sentenced to ten years penal servitude. While in prison, he was offered bribes to give false evidence against Charles Stewart Parnell but replied that "not all the gold or honours that the Queen could bestow would indue Patrick Nally to become a traitor."
Owing to his good conduct, he was due to be released early on 27 November 1891, but died on the 7th, officially of typhoid fever. Foul play was widely believed, but unconfirmed. He was buried in the MacManus plot at Glasnevin on the 15th, his coffin draped in the same flag that had draped Parnell's one month previously.
In 1953, Patrick Mullaney of Balla, Mayo delegate on the G.A.A. Central Council, was responsible for naming the new stand in Croke Park after Nally.