Marty Carlin (born 1961 or 1962) is an Irish 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 who played for Robert Emmets, Red Hughs and the Donegal county team. His father John was a provincial

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

champion. His brother Sean achieved county records in the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

and the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

and narrowly missed the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

with a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury. Sean, as well as their brothers Eugene, Joseph and Declan, all played for Red Hughs. With his club Carlin reached finals of the

Donegal Senior Football Championship The Donegal Senior Football Championship (abbreviated as Donegal SFC) is an annual football competition organised by Donegal GAA and contested by the highest-level clubs, to determine the best team in County Donegal. Since 2016, it has been known ...

in 1986 and 1991. He won a Division 1 league title in 1994. He also played other sports:

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

;

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 ...

with Curragh Athletic and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

with

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

. County manager

Tom Conaghan Tom Conaghan is an Irish Gaelic football figure who managed Donegal county football teams during the 1980s and, later, the Sligo senior team. His former players regarded him as a disciplinarian in his approach to management. Conaghan managed Do ...

dropped Carlin and

Charlie Mulgrew Charles Patrick Mulgrew (born 6 March 1986) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Scottish Premiership side Dundee United. Mulgrew began his career at Celtic, during which time he spent time on loan at Dundee U ...

from his team for one year after they played for Letterkenny in a Forster Cup final victory at Ravenhill in 1987. Carlin returned to the team and played in both the 1989

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 ...

final and replay. They were two of only six appearances he made for his county in championship football. Carlin left the county team at the end of 1990 after informing manager

Brian McEniff Brian McEniff (born 1 December 1942) is a former Gaelic football manager, administrator and player. McEniff played as a wing-back for the St Joseph's combination of clubs from Bundoran and Ballyshannon. He won seven Donegal Senior Football C ...

of his decision. Thus he missed the

1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the deciding match of the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. The 105th All-Ireland SFC final, the e ...

, which Donegal won. At the local homecoming, clubmate

Donal Reid Donal Reid ( ; born 1961 or 1962) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for Bundoran, Red Hughs and the Donegal county team. He played more than 100 times competitively for Donegal, appearing at all age levels and positions from midf ...

gave him a special mention and invited him onto the stage. After being awarded Donegal Player of the Year in 1993, Carlin was prompted to make a brief return for his county in 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlin, Marty 1960s births Living people Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code