Naoise Ó Baoill (born 1997) is an Irish-Japanese Gaelic footballer, reared in Japan and Australia and currently playing for

Gaoth Dobhair Gweedore ( ; officially known by its Irish language name, ) is an Irish-speaking district and parish located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some from Glasserchoo in the north to Croll ...

. He formerly played for the Donegal county team. He has also played Australian rules football and

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 past.

Early life

Born in

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 Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

, Ó Baoill's mother, Kumi, is Japanese and he spent much of his early childhood in her home country. He has two siblings, both of whom were born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. His father Colm, an Irishman originally from Bóthar na Trá in Machaire Chlochair, got a job in Australia and the family moved there in 1998. Ó Baoill preferred playing association football while living there and admired the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

player Steven Gerrard; however, he showed some interest in playing Australian rules football as well. The family moved from Sydney to Gaoth Dobhair in 2009 when Ó Baoill was twelve. His father is close to the father of

Odhrán Mac Niallais Odhrán Mac Niallais (born 17 August 1992) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Gaoth Dobhair and the Donegal county team. With two Ulster Senior Football Championships to his name, Mac Niallais was a prominent feature of the Donegal ...

and Ó Baoill was thus often at Mac Niallais's house from a young age. He is also a cousin of Gaoth Dobhair and Donegal player

Daire Ó Baoill Daire Ó Baoill (born 1996/7) is an Irish Gaelic footballer and former association footballer who plays for Gaoth Dobhair and the Donegal county team. Ó Baoill previously played association football with the under-19 team of League of Irelan ...

. Though involved in playing association football for Letterkenny Rovers, Ó Baoill was drawn towards Gaelic football when he played his first game against Termon at under-14 level on the grounds of a Letterkenny school. He later recalled: Tom "Beag" Gillespie was manager of the Gaoth Dobhair under-14 team at the team Ó Baoill began playing. Ó Baoill was part of a side that went undefeated from the under-16 until the under-21 levels. When he won a Donegal Minor Football Championship medal with Gaoth Dobhair in 2014, Ó Baoill brought it with him to the island of Kyushu to show it to his grandparents. Ó Baoill has attended

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It w ...

, where he has studied Biomedical Science. He works in

Teach Mhicí Teach Mhicí is an Irish pub in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. It is currently operated by members of the family of and in-laws of the Gaoth Dobhair and Donegal Gaelic footballer Kevin Cassidy. Cassidy's father-in-law, the former Donegal foo ...

, a pub owned by the family of Gaoth Dobhair teammate

Kevin Cassidy Kevin Cassidy (born 1981) is an Irish-Scottish Gaelic footballer, businessperson, columnist and commentator. Though born in Glasgow, Scotland, he has been living in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal from a young age. Cassidy plays his club footbal ...

Playing career

Ó Baoill played for the Donegal senior team in 2017. He typically plays as Gaoth Dobhair's number 11 (with photographs existing of him in that number jersey from a young age) and his diminutive stature allows him to "get down under an

O'Neill's O'Neills Irish International Sports Company Ltd. is an Irish sporting goods manufacturer established in 1918. It is the largest manufacturer of sportswear in Ireland, with production plants located in Dublin and Strabane. O'Neills has a long r ...

size five" and race towards the opposite side of the field of play. He has stated that his ambition is to "prove that people under the standard height can play at the highest level". Ó Baoill won a

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 ...

medal with Gaoth Dobhair in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, starting for his team in the final and completing the game. It gave him a full set of county championship medals at the age of just 21. Ó Baoill then played during Gaoth Dobhair's first ever

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and t ...

-winning campaign, a run which involved a quarter final defeat of Cargin (with Ó Baoill starting the game and being substituted in injury time), a semi-final defeat of eleven-time winners

Crossmaglen Rangers Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic Athletic Club ( ga, Raonaithe na Croise) is a GAA club in Crossmaglen, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They cater for Gaelic football and camogie. Their home football ground is St. Oliver Plunkett Park, which was op ...

(with Ó Baoill starting and completing the game), and culminated in the club defeating

Scotstown Scotstown () is a village in the townland of Bough () in north County Monaghan, Ireland. Scotstown is located in the parish of Tydavnet, along the Monaghan Blackwater, Scotstown being the village closest to the river's source. Scotstown is ce ...

(who had won the competition on four previous occasions), the last two of these games occurring 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 th ...

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city Belfast is 68 m ...

. Ó Baoill also started for Gaoth Dobhair in the Ulster final, scoring a point, vital as the sides were only separated by one point in the end, following extra time. Eamon McGee had queried before that game whether Ó Baoill would become the first Japanese man to play in the final of the Ulster Club Football Championship.

Personal life

Ó Baoill moved to Canada in 2021. He originally intended to visit the city of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

during a summer break from his studies. Then the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

happened, causing his trip to be delayed. While in Canada he plays Gaelic for St Finnian's.

Honours

: 2018 *

* Ulster Under-21 Club Football Championship: 2018 * Donegal Under-21 Club Football Championship: 2018 * Donegal Minor Football Championship: 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obaoill, Naoise 1997 births Living people Men's association football players not categorized by position Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaoth Dobhair Gaelic footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Irish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Irish expatriate sportspeople in Japan Irish people of Japanese descent Irish players of Australian rules football Japanese Gaelic footballers Japanese players of Australian rules football Association footballers from County Donegal Letterkenny Rovers F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Sportspeople from Letterkenny