Paul Earley (born 3 July 1964) is a former Irish sportsman who played

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 ...

for

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) and

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 ...

for the Roscommon county team. Earley was the first player recruited from Ireland to play a VFL match, beating

Sean Wight John Phillip "Sean" Wight (15 March 1964 – 30 June 2011) was an Irish-Australian Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL. He is a member of the Melbourne Football Club Hall of Fame and was named as one of the 150 Heroes of the club duri ...

who was also listed by Melbourne at the time. He made his only appearance in Melbourne's last game of the

1984 VFL season The 1984 VFL season was the 88th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 31 March until 29 September, and comprised a ...

, when they lost to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

by 28 points at the

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

. Due to family reasons, Earley returned to Ireland at the end of the year and rejoined

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built ...

, with whom his elder brother, Dermot Earley Snr, played. He was named as a full-forward in the 1985 GAA All Stars team and represented Ireland in the 1987 International Rules series. The former VFL footballer then played in Roscommon's 1990 and 1991

Connacht Championship The Connacht Senior Hurling Championship, known simply as the Connacht Championship, was an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Connacht Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It was the highest inter-county hurl ...

winning teams. Earley later managed both Allenwood and

Celbridge Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...

. Earley has worked as a commentator for

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

. Since 2014, he has worked as a commentator for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. On 4 February 2013, Earley was announced as the new manager of

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 ...

. His tenure with Ireland was reasonably successful - he is most noted for leading the country to record-breaking victories over

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 ...

to win the

2013 International Rules Series The 2013 International Rules Series (officially the 2013 Irish Daily Mail International Rules Series) was the 17th International Rules Series contested between Gaelic footballers from Ireland and Australian footballers from Australia. Ireland en ...

title. He returned to the coaching role for the 2014 test match, though oversaw an Irish squad which fell 10 points short of a star-studded Australian team.

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Earley, Paul 1964 births Living people Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic football managers Gaelic games commentators Ireland international rules football team coaches Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Irish players of Australian rules football Melbourne Football Club players Michael Glavey's Gaelic footballers Roscommon inter-county Gaelic footballers VFL/AFL players born outside Australia

See also

References

External links