Ciarán Lyng (born 9 July 1986) is an All Star-nominated Irish sportsperson. He plays

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 ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

for St Martin's and Gaelic football for the

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

senior inter-county team, and has played

international rules football International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was develope ...

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 ...

. He has also played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

and at under-age level for

Early and personal life

Lyng grew up as one of four brothers in Wexford, playing football, hurling, handball and soccer. His brother

Diarmuid Lyng Diarmuid Lyng (born 1981 in Wexford, Ireland) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling and Gaelic football with his local club St Martin's and was a member of the Wexford senior inter-county hurling team from 2004 to 2013. His nickname "Gizzy ...

plays hurling for Wexford.

Soccer career

Lyng played soccer almost thirty times for Ireland at underage level. He had a number of offers from British clubs such as

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

but opted to move to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. Lyng moved to Shrewsbury Town in December 2004. He made four substitute appearances in the latter half of the 2004–05 season. In the 2005–06 season for Shrewsbury, he made one start, in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

match which Shrewsbury lost to

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

Football career

Lyng has since been selected for the Wexford Gaelic football team in the

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 ...

. He was a member of the Wexford panel which reached the 2008

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA ...

final. Lyng scored four points against Meath in the quarter-final and one point 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 medie ...

in the semi-final. However, Wexford were easily defeated by

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 ...

in the Leinster Senior Football Championship Final. Wexford went on to surprisingly reach the

semi-final, where they were comfortably beaten by Tyrone. 2008 was a year to remember for Lyng: he was nominated for an All-Star and he then represented Ireland against Australia in the

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team (s ...

that October. A first county medal topped off a great year for Lyng when his St. Martin's team comfortably beat Oulart the Ballagh in a huge upset in the Wexford Senior County Hurling Final. Ciarán won his first County Medal with St Martin's in Intermediate Football in 2007, gaining the 'Man of the Match' award. His brother

captained that side. He subsequently won a senior county football title with his club in 2013 and he has won two senior county hurling titles with St Martin's in 2017 and 2019.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyng, Ciaran 1985 births Living people Dual players Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish international rules football players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Preston North End F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players St Martin's (Wexford) hurlers St Martin's (Wexford) Gaelic footballers Wexford inter-county Gaelic footballers Association football defenders Republic of Ireland association footballers Irish expatriate association footballers Expatriate footballers in England