Malcolm O'Kelly (born 19 July 1974) is an Irish former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played as a

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for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

. O'Kelly was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

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, and attended Templeogue College secondary school in Dublin, Ireland. He has played for the Barbarians FC three times, wearing his old school socks. O'Kelly completed a B.A. in Engineering at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

between 1992 and 1996. The O'Kelly, who made his international début in 1997 against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, became a talisman of the Irish side and was Ireland's all-time

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

leader, surpassing Mike Gibson, on 12 February 2005 when he started in Ireland's Six Nations fixture against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. O'Kelly not only earned his 70th cap, but scored Ireland's first try in the match, giving them a lead they never relinquished. O'Kelly has since been surpassed by Ronan O'Gara (128caps), Brian O'Driscoll (124 caps), John Hayes (105 caps) Johnny Sexton (99 caps), Peter Stringer (98 caps) and Donncha O'Callaghan (94 caps) but earned 92 test caps in his career.Leinster Player Profile
/ref> O'Kelly also played with the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

on their tour to Australia, and had been named in the Lions squad for their 2005 tour of New Zealand, but aggravated a groin injury in training and was replaced by Simon Shaw. He has five Lions caps. At the end of the 09/10 season, O'Kelly announced his retirement from professional rugby. He is the only player in the Heineken cup to have played since the start of the competition – 15 years. He has won a grand slam, the Heineken cup, the Magners League(3) and 4 Triple Crowns: he is also Ireland's third most capped second row. As well as that, he is a two time British and Irish Lion. O'Kelly is a supporter of the children's charity Plan Ireland and is a committee member of the

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

club, Shamrock Warriors RFC.

References

External links

Leinster profileIreland ProfileProfile at sporting-heroes.net, including caps from 1997–2000
(Retrieved 6 February 2005)
Profile at sporting-heroes.net, including caps from 2001–2002
(Retrieved 6 February 2005)
Profile at sporting-heroes.net, including caps from 2003–present
(Retrieved 6 February 2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Okelly, Malcolm 1974 births Living people Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Leinster Rugby players St Mary's College RFC players Dublin University Football Club players London Irish players Rugby union locks British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Barbarian F.C. players Sportspeople from Essex People educated at Templeogue College 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players