Ciarán Kilkenny (born 7 July 1993) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Gaelic footballer who plays for the Dublin county team and as a

dual player Dual player or dual star is a term used in Hiberno-English to describe someone who competes in multiple sports — for example, in Victorian Ireland, cricket and hurling. The term today in Gaelic games typically describes a male player who plays ...

for his club Castleknock. He was previously on the playing list of Australian rules football club

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

, as a rookie. He has featured on an advertising billboard campaign in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Early life

Kilkenny attended Scoil Oilibhéir in

Clonsilla Clonsilla () is an outer suburb of Dublin in Fingal, Ireland. Clonsilla is also a civil parish in the barony of Castleknock in the historic County Dublin. Location and access Clonsilla used to be a small village in the inner western part of ...

Hurling

Kilkenny represented Dublin at underage at several levels. Despite being previously offered a place on the Dublin senior hurling panel, he chose to dedicate his time solely to football. Kilkenny does, however, still play hurling for his club, Castleknock.

Football

Club

Kilkenny won the

Dublin Minor Football Championship The Dublin Minor Football Championship "A" is a Gaelic Athletic Association competition organised by Dublin GAA between the top teams in minor (under-18) Gaelic football in County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map ...

with Castleknock in 2011. He won the

Dublin Junior Football Championship The Dublin Junior Football championship is the Junior Gaelic Athletic Association Gaelic football competition of Dublin. The winners of the Junior championship go on to qualify for the Dublin Intermediate Football Championship. The winners wil ...

with Castleknock, his last medal before switching codes to Aussie rules.

Inter-county

Minor/U21

Kilkenny won the 2011

Leinster Minor Football Championship The Leinster Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in gaelic football played in the province of Leinster. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it were replaced by an under 17 ...

and the

Leinster Minor Hurling Championship The Leinster GAA Hurling Minor Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Electric Ireland Leinster GAA Hurling Minor Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Ass ...

with Dublin in 2011. He was on the losing side for both teams in the All-Ireland finals in 2011 at Croke Park. Kilkenny was called up to the Dublin under 21 team in 2012. He won the

Leinster Under 21 Football Championship The Leinster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Leinster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highes ...

with Dublin in March 2012. Ciaran scored a total of 1-07 in the Leinster final against

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

Páirc Tailteann Páirc Tailteann () is a GAA stadium in Navan, County Meath, Ireland. It is the home of the Meath Gaelic football and Hurling teams. The ground has had a capacity of between 30,000 and 33,000, but following a safety audit in 2011 the GAA redu ...

in Navan. The game finished on 1-16 to 0-08 with Dublin winning the game by a comfortable 11 point margin to become Leinster champions for the tenth time. Ciaran Kilkenny scored a total of 2-25 (0-7f) for Dublin in the Leinster Championship. Dublin went on to meet Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final at Portlaoise. Kilkenny scored just one point in a game in which Dublin won against the Munster champions. The game finished on a scoreline of 3-11 to 0-14. Ciarán won the all-Ireland under 21 championship with Dublin against Connacht champions

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

in Tullamore. Kilkenny scored a total of four points in a close game against Roscommon which ended with heavy scoring from Dublin. The game finished on a scoreline of 2-12 to 1-11. Kilkenny was named the

Cadbury's Hero of the Future The EirGrid U20 Footballer of the year, (previously known as the Cadbury's Hero of the Future) is a Gaelic football award given to the top performing under-20 (formerly under-21) player in the Provincial and All-Ireland Under-20 Football Champions ...

for his performances with Dublin in 2012.

Senior

Kilkenny made his debut for the Dublin senior football team against

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medi ...

in the 2012

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

when he came on as a substitute for

Diarmuid Connolly Diarmuid Connolly (born 7 July 1987) is an Irish Gaelic footballer. His National Football League (Ireland), league and All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, championship career at senior level as a forward playing for the Dublin county footb ...

. He made his first start for the Dublin senior football team against

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

in the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

All-Ireland football semi-final defeat. He scored three points in the game.

Move to AFL

Kilkenny was linked to a possible move to Australia as a rookie in the Australian AFL. Dublin football legend

Dessie Farrell Dessie Farrell is an Irish Gaelic football coach and former player. He has been manager of the Dublin county team since 2019. A former All Star Gaelic footballer who played at senior level for Dublin county team for nearly 15 years, he reti ...

described the potential departure of Kilkenny to Australian football as "a huge loss". confirmed the signing on 29 September 2011, after had also tried to secure the 19-year-old's services. Kilkenny flew to Melbourne to visit Hawthorn officials at Waverley, and was scheduled to become the first Irishman to play at the club. Recent changes to rookie list rules had made the recruitment of Irish players more appealing, with clubs now able to count one Irish player as an international rookie, meaning the player does not take up a main rookie spot. After just four months and a return to Ireland for the Christmas, Kilkenny decided for personal reasons to remain in Ireland where he wished to pursue a career with Castleknock and Dublin.

Return to Ireland

Upon his return to the native soil, Kilkenny collected both the 2013 NFL title and

2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 127th edition of the GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament, played between 31 counties of Ireland (excluding Kilkenny), London and New York. The 2013 All-Ireland Senior Fo ...

title with Dublin. In March 2014, he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

while fulfilling a Dublin football fixture at Croke Park against

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

in a 2014 NFL, causing him to miss the rest of the season. By winning his sixth All Star in 2022, he drew level with Stephen Cluxton and became the Dublin player with the joint highest number of awards.

International rules

Kilkenny played twice for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

against Australia in the

2013 International Rules Series The 2013 International Rules Series (officially the 2013 Irish Daily Mail International Rules Series) was the 17th International Rules Series contested between Gaelic footballers from Ireland and Australian footballers from Australia. Ireland e ...

, and scored a goal in the second Test at Croke Park.

Career statistics

: ''As of match played 10 July 2022''

Honours

;Dublin *

(7):

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, 2015,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

;Individual * All Star (6): 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilkenny, Ciaran 1993 births Living people All Stars Awards winners (football) Castleknock Gaelic footballers Castleknock hurlers Dual players DCU Gaelic footballers Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic football forwards Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Irish international rules football players Irish players of Australian rules football People from Castleknock Sportspeople from Fingal Winners of seven All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)