Joe Cunnane 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

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who represented

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 ...

at the

Australian Football International Cup The Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup or simply the IC) is a triennial international Australian rules football sport competition. It is the biggest worldwide tournament in the sport and is open to ...

and also appeared on two Irish football

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

shows.

Playing career

Australian football

Th
Dublin Demons
clubman was the ruckman on the

Ireland national Australian rules football team The Irish national Australian rules football team ( ga, Foireann peile rialacha na hAstrálie náisiúnta na hÉireann) represent Ireland in Australian rules football and is selected from the best Irish born and raised players primarily from ...

which won the

2002 Australian Football International Cup The 2002 Australian Football International Cup was the inaugural international Australian rules football tournament held in Melbourne, Australia in 2002. 11 nations participated from around the world and the tournament was officiated by the In ...

. Cunnane was one of Ireland's best players in the final against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. He was top scorer when Ireland won the 2001

Atlantic Alliance Cup The Atlantic Alliance Cup is an international Australian rules football tournament run every 3 years. The inaugural tournament pitted clubs and national teams from the North Atlantic together. History Like the Australian Football International ...

, playing at

full-forward Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals. The Coleman Medal is awarded to the player, often a full-forward, who has kicked the most goals in an Australian Football League se ...

and played in the forward line again in the

2008 Australian Football International Cup The 2008 Australian Football International Cup was the third time the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition, has been contested. It was scheduled for 2008 (as part of the 150th year cele ...

, reaching the semi-finals. Cunnane returned with the team for a third time to help them reclaim the

2011 Australian Football International Cup The 2011 Australian Football International Cup (or IC21) is the fourth edition of the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition run by the Australian Football League. It was contested between 1 ...

title.

Gaelic football

Cunnane is a club member of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

team for his home town of

Tulsk Tulsk () is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland, on the N5 national primary road between Strokestown and Bellanagare. It is 19 km north of Roscommon town. Heritage Near Tulsk is Cruachan, an Iron Age (Gaelic) royal palace. As recou ...

in Ireland, has also represented

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in the

Australasian GAA The Australasia County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Australasian GAA, or Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia is one of the county boards of the GAA outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games all a ...

Championships. He has appeared on ''The Craic Down Under'' on

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the Republic of Ireland's state controlled national broadcaster. Its first channel was Teilifís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RT ...

and was selected on TV channel

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

's "The Underdogs" team that narrowly lost to

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 2003.

References

Living people Roscommon inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish players of Australian rules football 1971 births People from Tulsk {{Roscommon-gaelic-football-bio-stub