Gerard O'Kane (born 5 October 1984) is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who plays for the Derry county team, with whom he has won a

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

title. He plays his club football for John Mitchel's Glenullin and has won a

Derry Senior Football Championship The Derry Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top sixteen Derry GAA clubs. The winners receive the John McLaughlin Cup and qualify to represent Derry in the Ulster Senior Club Football Champio ...

with the club. He plays in the half back line for club and county, with his pace and stamina being two of his key attributes.

Early life and family

O'Kane was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

PA but now lives in Glenullin near

Garvagh Garvagh ( or ''Garbhachadh'' meaning "rough field") is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is on the banks of the Agivey River, south of Coleraine on the A29 route. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,288. It is sit ...

. He is a cousin of fellow Derry and Glenullin players

Paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black ...

and

Eoin Bradley Eoin Bradley (commonly known by his nickname Skinner; born 31 December 1983) is a Gaelic footballer and association footballer. He plays the former for the Glenullin club and, previously, for the Derry county team. With Glenullin he won a D ...

. The Bradleys' father,

Liam Liam is a short form of the Germanic name William, or its Irish variant Uilliam. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these ...

(former Antrim manager) is an uncle of O'Kane. O'Kane's father, also called Gerard, has served as chairman of the Derry County Board in the past.

Playing career

Club

O'Kane plays club football for John Mitchel's Glenullin. O'Kane won the

with the club in the Derry Senior Football Championship of 2007. Glenullin met

Bellaghy Bellaghy () is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north east of Magherafelt. In the centre of the village (known locally as The Diamond) three main roads lead to Magherafelt, ...

in the final, and, after a replay, won the title. He won the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award for his performance in the final replay. Earlier that year Glenullin won the

Ulster Senior Club Football League The Ulster Senior Club Football League is an annual Gaelic football tournament played in Ulster GAA between clubs who choose to enter. It starts with a group stage, with the group winners (and for 2008 the best group runner-up) advancing to the k ...

, beating Latton of Monaghan in the final. The club reached the Ulster League final again the following year, but were defeated by fellow Derry club Ballinderry. In 2008 the club reached the final of the All-Ireland Sevens Championship, organised by

Kilmacud Crokes Kilmacud Crokes () is a large Gaelic Athletic Association club located in Stillorgan, Dublin, Ireland. Background Kilmacud GAA club was formed in 1959 following a public meeting in Saint Laurence's Hall, where Stillorgan shopping centre no ...

, but lost 1-11 to 0-13 to St. Gall's, Antrim in the decider, with O'Kane scoring 0-01 in the match. He was Glenullin's goalkeeper during the tournament (often outfielders are used as goalkeepers in sevens football). Glenullin, jointly with Ballinderry, won the 2008 Derry Senior Football League.

Inter-county

O'Kane captained the Derry

Minor Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to an ...

side that won the 2002 Ulster Minor Championship and All-Ireland Minor Championship. He made his Derry

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut in 2004. He was part of the Derry team that won the 2008 National League where Derry beat Kerry in the final. O'Kane and Derry again reached the National League final in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, but were defeated by Kerry. Derry opened their 2009 Championship campaign with a win over Monaghan. However, they were defeated in the next round (Ulster semi-final) by Tyrone. They were drawn against Monaghan again in the first round of the Qualifiers and defeated them for the second time that year. Derry's 2009 campaign ended the following week with defeat to Donegal.

School/college

Gerard O'Kane captained St Pat's, Maghera, to success in the 2003

MacRory Cup The MacRory Cup is an inter-college (school) Gaelic football tournament in Ulster at senior "A" grade. The MacLarnon Cup is the competition for schools at senior 'B' grade. Players must be under nineteen at the start of the tournament. The winn ...

and

Hogan Cup The Hogan Cup (), also known as the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Football Championship, is the top level Gaelic football championship for secondary schools (sometimes referred to as colleges) in Ireland. The competition itself is re ...

. These successes came months after winning the All-Ireland Minor title with Derry, becoming the first player since 1949 to captain a winning Hogan Cup team the year after captaining a victorious All-Ireland Minor side. He was awarded Ulster Colleges Football All-Stars in both 2002 and 2003. In 2007 he won the Ryan Cup and

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

with

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. In 2005 and 2007 he was voted onto the Datapac Combined Universities (All Star) team.

Honours

Inter-county

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 T ...

(1): 2002 *

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it was replaced by an under ...

(1): 2002 *

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(1):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Club

(1): 2007 *

(1):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

*Derry Senior Football League (1): 2008

College

(1): 2003 *

Ryan Cup The Ryan Cup is the tier 2 hurling championship for third level colleges, the Fitzgibbon Cup being the tier 1 hurling championship trophy. The Ryan Cup competition is administered by Comhairle Ard Oideachais Cumann Lúthchleas Gael (CLG), the GAA ...

(1): 2007 *

(1): 2007

Individual

*Captain Derry minor Ulster and All-Ireland winning side: 2002 *Captain St. Pat's MacRory Cup and Hogan Cup winning side: 2003 *Ulster Colleges Football All-Star - Winner (2): 2002, 2003 *Datapac Combined Universities - Winner (2): 2005, 2007 *Irish News All Star 2009 Note: The above lists may be incomplete. Please add any other honours you know of.

References

External links

Player profiles on Official Derry GAA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okane, Gerard 1984 births Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast American Gaelic footballers Derry inter-county Gaelic footballers Glenullin Gaelic footballers