Brendan Clarke (born 17 September 1985) is an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who plays for

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

in the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

Club career

St Patrick's Athletic

Clarke is a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and played schoolboy football for local side Cherry Orchard. He is one of a handful of local players to have played for St. Pats. Clarke had an extended spell in the first team at the end of the 2004 season as regular 'keeper

Chris Adamson Christopher Adamson (born 4 November 1978) is an English former football goalkeeper who played for 13 clubs in a 13-year career. Adamson is currently goalkeeping coach at Mansfield Town, and plays for Midland Football League Division Two side La ...

's form dropped. In 2007, Clarke was sent on a season-long loan to

Waterford United Waterford Football Club formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club was founded and elected to the league in 1930. Originally the ...

but was recalled before the season got underway. At the end of the 2007 season, Clarke played in the 4 of the last 5 league games. Keeping 3 clean sheets out of 4 ensuring the Saints secured

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

football in 2008. He only missed the last game of the season due to an injury during the warm-up. He had a very successful loan spell at

Sporting Fingal F.C. Sporting Fingal Football Club was an Irish association football club based in Fingal. Between 2008 and 2010, the club played three seasons in the League of Ireland. During their first two seasons they played in the First Division before winnin ...

during the 2nd half of the 2008 season. He played 14 games for Fingal, keeping 7 clean sheets. When coming back to the Saints for the 2009 season, Clarke was told by the then boss,

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington ...

, that he'd be his number 1 goalkeeper for the season. McDonnell then left the club and was replaced by

Jeff Kenna Jeffrey Jude Kenna (born 27 August 1970) is an Irish football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a defender from 1989 until 2009, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City. He was ...

as manager. Kenna let goalkeeper Barry Ryan go to Galway United and replaced him with Galway keeper Gary Rogers. Kenna favoured Rogers from day one and installed Rogers as his number 1 keeper. When

resigned, new manager Pete Mahon came in and immediately put Clarke into the team. Clarke played in the final 10 games of the 2009 season and put in some fine performances. He kept 4 clean sheets in the 10 games including clean sheets against the Saints relegation rivals

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

twice and

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

, and also keeping a clean sheet in the vital last game of the season against

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

Sporting Fingal

Following the 2009 season, Clarke signed a 2-year full-time contract with Sporting Fingal, where he'd had a very successful loan spell in 2008.

Sligo Rovers

After Sporting Fingal ceased trading Clarke's contract was cancelled and he signed for

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

on a 1-year full-time contract on 15 February 2011. Clarke impressed immediately by saving a penalty on his debut in the 1–0 win over

Derry City F.C. Derry City Football Club are a professional football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of league football in the Republic of Ireland, and are its only member from Northern I ...

The Brandywell The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium () is a municipal Association football, football stadium in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C., (temporarily) NIFL Championship team Institute F.C., Inst ...

. He followed this up by keeping 5 clean sheets in his first 6 games. He has gone on a great run and has currently kept 9 consecutive clean sheets, setting a new

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

record for consecutive clean sheets. This has helped Rovers move to the top of the Airtricity League Premier Division. Solid performances from Clarke helped Sligo to a 2nd-place finish in the league and also a cup winners medal as Sligo lifted the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

for the second year in a row.

Return to St Patrick's Athletic

Clarke signed a contract to return to the Saints for the 2012 season on 21 December 2011. He earned his place as number one keeper ahead of Barry Murphy and kept five clean sheets in the opening eight games of the season, conceding only three goals. Clarke remained at the Saints for five seasons, in which he won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, the 2014 President's Cup, the 2014 Leinster Senior Cup, the 2014 FAI Cup (the club's first in 53 years), as well as the League Cup in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Limerick

On 3 December 2016,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

announced via their

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account that they had signed Clarke on a 2-year contract ahead of the 2017 season. He made a total of 54 appearances in all competitions with the club, winning the supporters player of the year award for 2017, before departing in the summer of 2018 due to financial difficulties at the club.

Third Spell at St Patrick's Athletic

He returned to

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

for a third spell at the club, midway through their 2018 season. On 18 September 2018, he scored the first goal of his career, scoring the winner in a 2–1 win over

from the penalty spot. In November 2018 he signed a new 2-year contract with the club. Despite being named the clubs Player of the Year by fans for the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, ahead of the 2020 season Clarke was told by manager Stephen O'Donnell that he could leave the club, however he decided to stay and fight for the starting spot with Conor Kearns and

Brian Maher Brian Maher is an American politician who is a member of the New York State Assembly from the 101st district. First elected in 2022, he previously served as the Town Supervisor of Montgomery, New York. Career Maher's first elected office was wo ...

. By the end of the season Clarke had played every minute of every league game for the club and was voted Player of the Year for the second year running.

Shelbourne

He joined Shelbourne in November 2020 ahead of their

2021 League of Ireland First Division The 2021 League of Ireland First Division season was the 37th season of the League of Ireland First Division, the second tier of Ireland's association football league. The fixture list was released on 8 February 2021 and the competition commenc ...

season.

Galway United

On 26 November 2022, it was announced that Clarke would be joining

for their 2023 campaign. On 21 August 2023, he made his 500th career appearance in all competitions, in a 5–1 win away to UCD in the

. On 22 September 2023, Clarke was part of the team that beat Kerry 4–0 to win the

2023 League of Ireland First Division The 2023 League of Ireland First Division season was the 39th season of the League of Ireland First Division, the second tier of the Republic of Ireland's association football league. The winners ( Galway United) were promoted to the 2024 Leag ...

, gaining promotion in the process.

International career

He has represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

at schools international level and was selected as part of the Republic of Ireland U23 squad to play Northern Ireland in 2008.

Personal life

In April 2020, Clarke opened up about having previously used the mental health services made available to players via the PFAI and urged other players to avail of the services also should they need them. Clarke was named as Chairperson of the PFAI in September 2020, taking over from outgoing Chairperson & former teammate Gary Rogers, with Roberto Lopes as his vice-chairperson.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;St Patrick's Athletic *

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

(1):

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 ...

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

(3): 2003,

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

(1):

* Leinster Senior Cup (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 ...

Sligo Rovers *

(1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Shelbourne *

(1):

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Galway United *

(1):

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Maynooth University (As assistant manager) *

Collingwood Cup The Collingwood Cup is an association football cup competition featuring university teams from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is organised by the Irish Universities Football Union, and is the oldest surviving all Ireland asso ...

(1): 2014

Individual

consecutive clean sheet record: 9 in 2011 with

* PFAI Premier Division Team of the Year (2):

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* PFAI Premier First Team of the Year (2):

*SWAI Goalkeeper of the Year (1):

Supporters Club Player of the Year: 2017 *

Player of the Year (2):

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Player of the Year: 2024 *Galway Sports Star Award for Soccer: 2024

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Brendan 1985 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players League of Ireland players Sporting Fingal F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Limerick F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Galway United F.C. players Cherry Orchard F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers Association footballers from County Dublin People from Inchicore 21st-century Irish sportsmen