Martin 'Marty' O'Reilly is an Irish

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 and hurler who plays for Seán Mac Cumhaills of

Ballybofey Ballybofey ( , ; ) is a town located on the south bank of the River Finn (County Donegal), River Finn, County Donegal, Ireland. Together with the smaller town of Stranorlar on the north side of the River Finn (County Donegal), River Finn, the ...

and also, formerly, for the Donegal county football team. He plays both football and hurling for his club.

Early life and education

O'Reilly attended college in

Marino Institute of Education Marino Institute of Education (Irish language, Irish: ), abbreviated as Marino Institute or MIE, is an Irish College of Education, an associated College of Trinity College Dublin. It is located on Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9. Its degrees and dip ...

and is now a primary school teacher in

Castleknock Castleknock () is an affluent village in County Dublin, Ireland, located west of the centre of Dublin city. It is in the modern county of Fingal. In addition to the village, the name "Castleknock" also refers to older units of land division: a ...

, Dublin. He is related to former Mayo footballers Willie Joe Padden and Billy Joe Padden. His father Terry, a former garda from ''Gleann Lára'' ( English: Glenlara), a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

near

Belmullet Belmullet (, IPA: �bʲeːlənˠˈwʊɾˠhəd̪ˠ is a coastal Gaeltacht town with a population of 1,019 on the Mullet Peninsula in the barony (Ireland), barony of Erris, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the commercial and cul ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

, in the West of Ireland, is club chairman of Seán MacCumhaill's.

Playing career

Underage

He was held scoreless in the 2012 Corn Na Mac Leinn final by a somewhat tenacious defender. He played in the loss to

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

in the 2013 Ulster Under-21 Football Championship final. He played in the under-21 team that lost to Cavan again in the 2014 Ulster final.

Senior

Jim McGuinness: 2011–14

Jim McGuinness Jim McGuinness (born 16 November 1972) is a Gaelic football coach, and former player, who won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship as a player with, and later manager of, the Donegal county team. Since 2023, he has been manager, for ...

first called O'Reilly into the Donegal county football team in late 2011. A member of the Donegal panel that won the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final against Mayo, he was an unused substitute in the final.

Bonner–McGuinness interim: 2014–17

O'Reilly started

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as "Ireland's first rock star", he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometim ...

's first match in charge of the county, a 2015 Dr McKenna Cup away defeat to

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. He started the first match of the 2015 National Football League (also against Derry but at home), contributing 0–2 to the team's victory. He also started the next game against Dublin at Croke Park. He started the third fixture against Cork in

Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 road (Ireland), N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 road (Ireland), N15 crosses the River Erne. The town was inc ...

and contributed 0–4 to the team's one-point victory. He also started the fourth fixture against Monaghan, the fifth fixture against Kerry, the sixth fixture against Tyrone and the seventh fixture against Mayo. O'Reilly made a substitute appearance in the 2015 Ulster Senior Football Championship final. He had previously started the preliminary round against Tyrone, the quarter-final against Armagh (scoring a goal) and the semi-final against Derry (scoring another goal, in the 45th minute). He also started the

2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2015 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 128th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football since its establishment in 1887. 33 teams took part − 31 Counties of Ireland, counties of I ...

qualifier defeat of Galway at Croke Park. O'Reilly started the opening fixture of the 2016 National Football League away to Down. He started the second fixture against Cork, a ten-point win in Ballyshannon, contributing 1–1 to the team's victory. He also started the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh fixtures against Mayo, Kerry, Roscommon, Dublin and Monaghan. Donegal qualified for the NFL semi-final. O'Reilly also started this game. O'Reilly started the 2016 Ulster Senior Football Championship final. He had previously started the quarter-final against Fermanagh (scoring 0–2) and the semi-final replay against Monaghan (scoring 0–3). O'Reilly also started the

2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 129th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA's premier inter-county gaelic football tournament since its establishment in 1887. 33 teams took part. 31 of the 32 Counties of Ire ...

qualifier defeat of Cork at Croke Park and the next game against Dublin at the same venue. O'Reilly started the opening fixture of the 2017 National Football League against Kerry, scoring a point and winning a 24th-minute penalty which was converted by Michael Murphy. He started the second fixture away to Roscommon, contributing 0–3 to the team's victory. He also started the third fixture against Dublin, the fifth fixture against Tyrone and the sixth fixture against Monaghan. He started the seventh fixture against Mayo and scored 0–1. O'Reilly started the 2017 Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final victory against Antrim and the semi-final loss to Tyrone, scoring 0–1 in the latter game. He also started the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qualifier defeat of Meath at

Páirc Tailteann Páirc Tailteann () is a GAA stadium in Navan, County Meath, Ireland. It is the home of the Meath Gaelic football and Hurling teams. The ground has had a capacity of between 30,000 and 33,000, but following a safety audit in 2011 the GAA reduc ...

. He then made a substitute appearance in the qualifier loss to Galway at

Markievicz Park Markievicz Park () is the principal GAA stadium in County Sligo, Ireland, home to the Sligo Gaelic football and hurling teams. Built in 1955 in Sligo town (due mostly to Seán Forde who single-handedly gathered the funds necessary to build the ...

and scored 0–2.

Declan Bonner: 2017–19

Under the management of Gallagher's successor Declan Bonner, O'Reilly started in the opening fixture of the 2018 National Football League against Kerry in

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

, as well as the next game against

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. He made a late substitute appearance against

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in the third game and an earlier one against

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

in the sixth game. O'Reilly withdrew from senior inter-county football ahead of the 2019 championship after experiencing limited match time during the 2019 National Football League. He had started the second fixture against

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

and scored a point but was substituted for Stephen McMenamin in the second half. McMenamin started each of the remaining fixtures in the competition. O'Reilly transferred to

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 ...

for the summer. He won the Philadelphia Championship there in August 2019, the Saturday before he returned to Ireland to play for his club Seán MacCumhaills in the 2019 Donegal Senior Football Championship.

Personal life

O'Reilly runs a sports shop in Ballybofey.

Honours

;Donegal *

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* National Football League Division 2:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

;? * Philadelphia Championship: 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OReilly, Martin 1993 births Living people Alumni of Marino Institute of Education Donegal inter-county Gaelic footballers Dual players Irish schoolteachers Seán MacCumhaills Gaelic footballers Seán MacCumhaills hurlers Sportspeople from Letterkenny 21st-century Irish sportsmen