Barney Rock (born 10 January 1961) is a former

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

at club and

inter-county Inter-county, or inter county is Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) terminology which refers to competitions or matches between counties, as used in Gaelic games (differently from legal counties). The term can also be used to describe the players o ...

level (he managed

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

in the mid-1990s).

Biography

Born in

Ballymun Ballymun () is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the Northside, the green-field development of which began in the 1960s to accommodate a housing crisis in inner city areas of Dublin. While the newly built housing was ...

, but growing up in

Glasnevin Glasnevin (, also known as ''Glas Naedhe'', meaning "stream of O'Naeidhe" after a local stream and an ancient chieftain) is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the River Tolka. While primarily residential, Glasnevin is also home t ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Rock attended St Kevins College,

Ballygall Ballygall () is a small suburban area located between Glasnevin and Finglas, on the northside of the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is also a townland divided between the civil parish of Finglas and that of Glasnevin. It was settled by Vikings in ...

. He played Gaelic football with his local club

Ballymun Kickhams Ballymun Kickhams ( Irish: ''Ciceam Bhaile Munna'' ) is a GAA club in Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland. The club has a clubhouse and its home pitch, ''Pairc Ciceam'', just off the Ballymun (junction 4) exit of the M50. Ballymun also has a full size ...

and was a senior member of the Dublin county team from 1980 until 1991. He won the

1983 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 1983 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 97th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter county, inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 15 M ...

with Dublin in 1983 at

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

against

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. Rock was also chosen to play in the first International Rules Series against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1984. Rock won an All Star for Dublin on three occasions, each in consecutive years 1983, 1984, 1985. After hanging up his boots, Rock went on to manage both the

senior and under 21 teams from 1995 to 1997 and was managing

Dublin GAA The Dublin County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Contae Átha Cliath) or Dublin GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in the Dublin Regi ...

club St Sylvester's in 2000. Rock was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1991 Dublin City Council election for the

Progressive Democrats The Progressive Democrats ( ga, An Páirtí Daonlathach, literally "The Democratic Party" ), commonly referred to as the PDs, was a conservative-liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Mal ...

. He stood for election to the

Finglas Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway, and the N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Dublin Airport is to the north. Finglas lies mainly in the posta ...

ward of

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

. Rock's son,

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

, would later play for Dublin.

References

1961 births Living people Ballymun Kickhams Gaelic footballers Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic football forwards Gaelic football managers Irish international rules football players Irish sportsperson-politicians Politicians from Dublin (city) Progressive Democrats politicians Singing talent show winners Sportspeople from Dublin (city) Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football) You're a Star contestants {{Dublin-gaelic-football-bio-stub