Killian Clarke (born 19 September 1993) 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 from

Shercock Shercock ( ); ) is a small town situated in the east of County Cavan, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the population of the town was 588. Shercock is located at the intersection of the R162 and R178 regional roads. It sits on the shores of ...

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

; who plays with his club Shercock and for the Cavan county team. He is one of a small number of latter-day Cavan players to have won Ulster football championship titles at Minor, U21 and Senior grade, as well as a Railway Cup football title with Ulster in 2016.

Playing career

Clarke is a nephew of former Cavan GAA Football forward and past Cavan Minor Football Manager, Jodie Clarke. He plays club football for Shercock GAA. Killian was a promising underage track and cross country athlete with Shercock AC and Cavan as well as a prominent underage soccer player, before focussing his energies on Gaelic Football in his mid-teens.

Cavan Minors

When he was 16, he was selected for Cavan minor trials but was not selected for the county after being told he was too slow so he joined a cross-country team at Shercock AC to improve his speed. He was selected to play Minor Football for Cavan in 2010 and 2011, and was part of the Cavan Minor Team that won the Ulster Minir Championship in 2011 after a 37 year gap.

Cavan U21's

Clarke graduated from Minor in 2011 to U21 in 2012, and won a trilogy of Ulster U21 titles between 2012 and 2014

University

Clarke attended university at the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. During his time there, Clarke contested two Sigerson Cup campaign - including 2016 - when UU were hosts.

Cavan Senior Football Team

Whilst at UU, at the age of 19 he made his inter-county debut for Cavan against

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

in the

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is usu ...

. After leaving university, he became a stockbroker in

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 ...

for

Cantor Fitzgerald Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. is an American financial services firm that was founded in 1945. It specializes in institutional equity, fixed income sales and trading, and serving the middle market with investment banking services, prime brokerage, an ...

. In 2013, Clarke was nominated for the

GAA GPA All Stars Awards The Gaelic Athletic Association-Gaelic Players' Association All Stars Awards (often known simply as the All Stars) are awarded annually to the best player in each of the 15 playing positions in Gaelic football and hurling. Additionally, one playe ...

, being his clubs first GPA All-Star nominee. In 2017, he was named captain of Cavan for the year. This lasted for a year before Clarke stepped down. In 2019, Clarke played in his first Ulster final, losing to Donegal. In 2019, Clarke received a red card during Cavan's

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

match against Tyrone at

Healy Park Healy Park (known as O'Neills Healy Park for sponsorship reasons) is a GAA stadium in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and is named after a GAA clubman from Omagh, Michael Healy. Healy Park is the home ground of Omagh St. Enda's and the ...

. Later in the year, Clarke announced he was stepping away from county football temporarily due to wanting to focus on his personal life after having made 72 senior appearances for his county. Killian returned to the Cavan panel for the delayed 2020 Ulster Championship campaign, where Cavan shocked Donegal in an eventful Ulster Final to bring the Anglo Celt Cup back to the Breffni county. Cavan exited the 2020 All-Ireland Championship at the hands of Dublin in the AI Semi-Final. Clarke was part of the Cavan team that won promotion from NFL Division 4 to Division 3 in 2022, winning the NFL Divisional Final against Tipperary in Croke Park in April 2022 in the process.

Ulster

In 2016, Clarke was selected at Full Back by Ulster Team Manager Pete McGrath to represent Ulster in the Interprovincial Railway Cup. Ulster defeated Munster in the Semi-Final and overcame Connacht in Pairc Sean MacDiarmada in December 2016, to win his first Railway Cup. In 2020, Killian was part of the Cavan Senior Football team which won the Ulster Senior Football Championship and secured a second Irish News Ulster All Star Award in the process.

International rules

In 2015 he was placed on the standby list for the Ireland's

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 (se ...

against Australia, however did not play. On 25 October 2017, Clarke was named in the

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 ...

squad for the 2017 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 November. Clarke played for Ireland during the series despite issues with his passport.

Honours

;Ulster * InterProvincial Football (Railway Cup): 2016 ;Cavan *

(1):

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

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

(3): 2012, 2013, 2014 *

Ulster Minor Football Championship The Ulster Minor Football Championship is the Minor "knockout" competition in the game of Gaelic football played in the province of Ulster in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ulster Council. The trophy for the winning side is Th ...

(1): 2011 ;Shercock *

Cavan Intermediate Football Championship The Cavan Intermediate Football Championship is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the middle-tier Gaelic football clubs organised by Cavan GAA. It was first competed for in 1915, before a lapse prior to being revived in 1 ...

(1): 2017 *

Cavan Junior Football Championship The Cavan Junior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by lower-tier Cavan GAA clubs. It was first competed for in 1913. The winner qualifies to represent their county in the Ulster Club Championship and in t ...

(1): 2011 ;Individual *

Tailteann Cup The Tailteann Cup is a second tier Gaelic football championship competition held annually since 2022 and organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is contested by those county teams who do not qualify for the All-Ireland Senior Foo ...

Team of the Year (1): 2022 * ''Irish News'' Ulster All-Star (2): 2013, 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Killian 1993 births Living people Cavan inter-county Gaelic footballers Stockbrokers