Gerard O'Kane (born 5 October 1984) is a

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 who plays for the Derry county team, with whom he has won a National League title. He plays his club football for John Mitchel's Glenullin and has won a

Derry Senior Football Championship The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champi ...

with the club. He plays in the half back line for club and county, with his pace and stamina being two of his key attributes.

Early life and family

O'Kane was born in Philadelphia PA but now lives in

Glenullin Glenullin was previously a rural area but has now expanded to become a small village in a valley between the villages of Garvagh, Swatragh and Dungiven, and lies in the borough of Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The nearest c ...

near Garvagh. He is a cousin of fellow Derry and Glenullin players

Paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *An List of ethnic slurs#P, ethnic slur for an Irishman Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird ...

and Eoin Bradley. The Bradleys' father, Liam (former Antrim manager) is an uncle of O'Kane. O'Kane's father, also called Gerard, has served as chairman of the Derry County Board in the past.

Playing career

Club

O'Kane plays club football for John Mitchel's Glenullin. O'Kane won the

with the club in the Derry Senior Football Championship of 2007. Glenullin met Bellaghy in the final, and, after a replay, won the title. He won the man of the match award for his performance in the final replay. Earlier that year Glenullin won the Ulster Senior Club Football League, beating Latton of Monaghan in the final. The club reached the Ulster League final again the following year, but were defeated by fellow Derry club Ballinderry. In 2008 the club reached the final of the All-Ireland Sevens Championship, organised by Kilmacud Crokes, but lost 1-11 to 0-13 to St. Gall's, Antrim in the decider, with O'Kane scoring 0-01 in the match. He was Glenullin's goalkeeper during the tournament (often outfielders are used as goalkeepers in sevens football). Glenullin, jointly with Ballinderry, won the 2008 Derry Senior Football League.

Inter-county

O'Kane captained the Derry

Minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

side that won the 2002 Ulster Minor Championship and All-Ireland Minor Championship. He made his Derry

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut in 2004. He was part of the Derry team that won the 2008 National League where Derry beat Kerry in the final. O'Kane and Derry again reached the National League final in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, but were defeated by Kerry. Derry opened their 2009 Championship campaign with a win over Monaghan. However, they were defeated in the next round (Ulster semi-final) by Tyrone. They were drawn against Monaghan again in the first round of the Qualifiers and defeated them for the second time that year. Derry's 2009 campaign ended the following week with defeat to Donegal.

School/college

Gerard O'Kane captained St Pat's, Maghera, to success in the 2003 MacRory Cup and Hogan Cup. These successes came months after winning the All-Ireland Minor title with Derry, becoming the first player since 1949 to captain a winning Hogan Cup team the year after captaining a victorious All-Ireland Minor side. He was awarded Ulster Colleges Football All-Stars in both 2002 and 2003. In 2007 he won the Ryan Cup and Sigerson Cup with

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. In 2005 and 2007 he was voted onto the Datapac Combined Universities (All Star) team.

Honours

Inter-county

* Ulster Minor Football Championship (1): 2002 * All-Ireland Minor Football Championship (1): 2002 * National Football League (1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Club

* Ulster Senior Club Football League (1): 2007 *

(1):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

*Derry Senior Football League (1): 2008

College

* MacRory Cup (1): 2003 * Hogan Cup (1): 2003 *

Ryan Cup The Ryan Cup is the tier 2 hurling championship for third level colleges, the Fitzgibbon Cup The Fitzgibbon Cup ( ga, Corn Mhic Giobúin) is the trophy for the premier hurling championship among higher education institutions (universities, coll ...

(1): 2007 * Sigerson Cup (1): 2007

Individual

*Captain Derry minor Ulster and All-Ireland winning side: 2002 *Captain St. Pat's MacRory Cup and Hogan Cup winning side: 2003 *Ulster Colleges Football All-Star - Winner (2): 2002, 2003 *Datapac Combined Universities - Winner (2): 2005, 2007 *Irish News All Star 2009 Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.

References

External links

Player profiles on Official Derry GAA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okane, Gerard 1984 births Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast American Gaelic footballers Derry inter-county Gaelic footballers Glenullin Gaelic footballers