Rena Buckley is an Irish sportswoman who played at senior level for both the

Cork county ladies' football team The Cork county ladies' football team represents Cork GAA in ladies' Gaelic football. The team competes in inter-county competitions such as the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship, the Munster Senior Ladies' Football Championship an ...

and the

Cork county camogie team The Cork county camogie team represents Cork in camogie. The team competes at inter-county level. Cork camogie has experienced four periods of ascendancy in the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship, winning 24 titles in all. The team won six ...

. She has also represented

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

in the

Gael Linn Cup The Gael Linn Cup is a bi-ennial tournament, representative competition for elite level participants in the women's team field sport of camogie, contested by Ireland's four provincial teams with competitions at senior and junior level on alternat ...

and Ireland at international rules. Between 2005 and 2017 she won 18 All-Ireland winners medals, making her one of most decorated sportspeople in

Gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the ...

. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

she captained Cork when they won the

All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship is the premier inter-county competition in the game of ladies' Gaelic football in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association and are played during the ...

and in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

she captained Cork when they won the

All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship The All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship is a competition for inter-county teams in the women's field sport of game of camogie played in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Camogie Association and are played during the summer m ...

. She was the first player to captain Cork to both All-Ireland senior championships. She was also named as an All Star on eleven occasions. In 2015 Buckley and her team mate and fellow

dual player Dual player or dual star is a term used in Hiberno-English to describe someone who competes in multiple sports — for example, in Victorian Ireland, cricket and hurling. The term today in Gaelic games typically describes a male player who plays ...

Briege Corkery Briege Corkery (born 16 December 1986) in Cork is a camogie player, ladies' Gaelic footballer, and winner of seven All Ireland Senior Camogie medals in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2018 as well as the winner of eleven All Ireland Se ...

, were named joint winners of the 2015 ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''/

Sport Ireland Sport Ireland ( ga, Spórt Éireann), formerly the Irish Sports Council, is a statutory authority that oversees, and partly funds, the development of sport within Ireland. It is located at the National Sports Campus in the townland of Sheephi ...

Sportswoman of the Year Award.

Early years, family and education

Rena Buckley is the daughter of Tim and Ellen Buckley. Her hometown is Berrings,

Inniscarra Inniscarra () is a civil parish in the barony of Muskerry East, County Cork, Ireland. It is located about 15km west of Cork city. The local GAA club is Inniscarra GAA and Dripsey GAA. Inniscarra is located on the north side of the River Lee. ...

. Between 1999 and 2005 she attended St. Aloysius School in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Between 2005 and 2009 she attended

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

where she gained a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Physiotherapy and Performance Science. In 2017–18 she returned to UCD and completed a MSc in Sports Physiotherapy. In 2019 she was awarded an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

. In 2015, she was awarded the UCD Alumni Award for Physiotherapy.

Playing career

Clubs

At club level Buckley plays

ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach na mBan) is a women's team sport. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a ...

for

Donoughmore Donoughmore (spelt ''Donaghmore'' by Ordnance Survey Ireland; Irish: ''Domhnach Mór'') is a civil and Catholic parish in County Cork, Ireland. This rural district lies 25 km west-northwest of Cork city. Donoughmore is part of the Cork Nor ...

and

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

for

. Between 2005 and 2009, while attending

, she also played camogie and ladies football for

UCD GAA UCD GAA or University College Dublin Gaelic Athletic Association club is a Dublin based Gaelic games club in University College Dublin. The UCD hurling club was founded in 1900 and boasted the mottos "Ad Astra" and "Cothrom Féinne". The first ...

and featured in four successive

Ashbourne Cup The Ashbourne Cup is an Irish camogie tournament played each year to determine the national champion university or third level college. The Ashbourne Cup is the highest division in inter-collegiate camogie. The competition features many of the c ...

finals, finishing on winning teams in 2007 and 2008. She was part of an O'Connor Cup winning team in 2006.

Inter-county

Ladies' Gaelic football

Between 2003 and 2017 Buckley played for the

. Together with

Valerie Mulcahy Valerie Mulcahy is an Irish footballer. As a ladies' Gaelic footballer, she played at senior level for Cork, winning ten All-Ireland titles and nine Ladies' National Football League titles between 2005 and 2015. She was also an All Star on s ...

Juliet Murphy Juliet Murphy (born 1980 in Donoughmore, County Cork) is an Irish sportsperson. She plays ladies' Gaelic football with her local club Donoughmore and has been a member of the Cork county ladies' football team at senior level since 1995. Mur ...

and

she was a member of the Cork team that won eleven

s between

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. In 2010 Buckley captained Cork when they won the Ladies' National Football League title and in

she was captain when they won the All-Ireland title. In the

2016 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship Final The 2016 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship Final featured and . Cork emerged as winners after a controversial 1–7 to 1–6 win over Dublin. In the 22nd minute Dublin's Carla Rowe had a point disallowed. The umpires waved the e ...

she was named Player of the Match. In 2017 she retired from the Cork senior ladies' football team.

Camogie

Between 2004 and 2018 Buckley played for the

. Together with Gemma O'Connor,

Anna Geary Anna Geary (born 28 July 1987) is a camogie player and television personality from Milford, County Cork, Ireland. Sporting career She is a winner of four All Star awards, most recently in 2011. She previously won All-Star awards in 200 ...

Ashling Thompson Ashling Thompson is an Irish sportswoman. She plays camogie with her local club, Milford, and with the Cork county team. Her partner is well known Limerick All Ireland Winning Midfielder Darragh O'Donovan Career Thompson began playing camog ...

and

she was a member of the Cork team that won seven

s between

and

. She captained Cork when they won the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final. In 2018 Buckley announced she was retiring from the Cork senior camogie team.

All-Ireland Finals

Between 2005 and 2017, while playing for the Cork county ladies' football team and the Cork county camogie team, Buckley won 18 All-Ireland winners medals, making her one of most decorated sportspeople in

. In

she captained Cork when they won the

and in

she captained Cork when they won the

. She was the first player to captain Cork to both All-Ireland championships and, after

Mary Geaney Mary Geaney is an Irish sportswoman. She played senior ladies' Gaelic football for Kerry, senior camogie for Cork and is also a former Ireland women's field hockey international. In 1976 she captained Kerry when they won the All-Ireland Senio ...

, she became only the second player to captain a team to both All-Ireland championships. On six occasions she helped Cork win the Double, after they won both All-Ireland championships in the same year. In total she played in 22 All-Ireland finals. On four occasions she finished as a runner-up, all with the Cork senior camogie team. In 2015 Buckley and her team mate and fellow

, both broke the record for most individual All-Ireland medals, overtaking the 15 won by the

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 ...

camogie player,

Kathleen Mills Kathleen "Kay" Mills-Hill (8 October 1923 – 11 August 1996) was an Irish sportsperson who played senior camogie with Dublin from 1941 until 1961. She is regarded as one of the greatest players of all-time, winning 15 All Ireland Senior Meda ...

. In December 2015 Buckley and Corkery were named joint winners of the 2015 ''

''/

Sportswoman of the Year Award in recognition of there achievement.

International rules football

Buckley was a member of the

Ireland women's international rules football team The Ireland women's international rules football team was organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association and represented both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the 2006 Ladies' International Rules Series against Australia. As ...

that played 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 the 2006 Ladies International Rules Series.

Personal life

Buckley is a member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists. In 2013 she became a partner in a physiotherapy centre in

Muskerry Muskerry ( ga, Múscraí) is a central region of County Cork, Ireland which incorporates the baronies of Muskerry West County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. Since September 2015 she has operated her own clinic in

Macroom Macroom (; ga, Maigh Chromtha) is a market town in County Cork, Ireland, located in the valley of the River Sullane, halfway between Cork city and Killarney. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of ...

. Her clinic are the club physiotherapists for several local GAA clubs including Naomh Abán. In May 2021, Buckley married her longtime partner, the

Freemount GAA Freemount GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the village of Freemount in the north-west of County Cork, Ireland which forms part of the parish of Milford, Freemount and Tullylease. The club plays in the Duhallow division and ...

player, Páidí Collins.Wedding bells in Berrings as Cork legend Rena Buckley marries Páidí Collins
/ref>

Honours

Ladies' Gaelic football

;

**''Winners'':

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

: 11 * Ladies' National Football League ** 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015,

: 11 * RTÉ Sports Team of the Year Award ** 2014

Camogie

;

**''Winners'':

: 7 **''Runners-up'':

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

: 4 *

National Camogie League The National Camogie League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Very Ireland Camogie Leagues, is a competition in the Irish team sport of camogie, played exclusively by women. The competition is held in three divisions graded by ability. It w ...

**''Winners'': 2006, 2007, 2012: 3 ; UCD *

**''Winners'': 2007, 2008: 2 **''Runners-up'': 2006,

: 2

Individual

*''

''/

Sportswoman of the Year ** 2015 * Ladies' Gaelic Football All Stars Awards **''Winner'': 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2015: 6 *

Camogie All Stars The Camogie All Star Awards are awarded each November to 15 players who have made outstanding contributions to the Irish stick and ball team sport of camogie in the 15 traditional positions on the field: goalkeeper, three full backs, three half-bac ...

**''Winner'': 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2017: 5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Rena 1987 births Living people Cork camogie players Cork inter-county ladies' footballers UCD camogie players Dual camogie–football players Ireland women's international rules football team players Winners of four All-Ireland medals (ladies' football) Alumni of University College Dublin People associated with University College Cork Irish physiotherapists