Cork-based Margaret Walsh, who has written "Sam Maguire: The Enigmatic Man Behind Ireland's Most Prestigious Trophy", says that "what became of him was very sad". "In 1924, he was sacked and deprived of his pension." They (the Irish Government) gave him £100 and that was it. "In 1925, he came back to west Cork to live. He then developed TB and died in penury in 1927 aged 49. They say that he died of a broken heart and penniless," she says.