Ciarán Kilkenny (born 7 July 1993) 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 who plays for the Dublin county team and as a

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 ...

for his club

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 ...

. He was previously on the playing list of

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club Hawthorn, as a rookie. He has featured on an advertising billboard campaign in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Early life

Kilkenny attended Scoil Oilibhéir in

Clonsilla Clonsilla () is a northwestern suburb of Dublin in Fingal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Clonsilla (civil parish), Clonsilla is also a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Castleknock (barony), Castleknock ...

Hurling

Kilkenny represented Dublin at underage at several levels. Despite being previously offered a place on the Dublin senior hurling panel, he chose to dedicate his time solely to football. Kilkenny does, however, still play hurling for his club, Castleknock.

Football

Club

Kilkenny won the

Dublin Minor Football Championship The Dublin Minor Football Championship "A" is a Gaelic Athletic Association competition organised by Dublin GAA between the top teams in minor (under-18) Gaelic football in County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, coun ...

with Castleknock in 2011. He won the

Dublin Junior Football Championship The Dublin Junior Football 1 Championship is the Junior Gaelic Athletic Association Gaelic football competition of Dublin. The winners of the Junior championship go on to qualify for the Dublin Intermediate Football Championship. The winners will ...

with Castleknock, his last medal before switching codes to Aussie rules.

Inter-county

Minor/U21

Kilkenny won the 2011

Leinster Minor Football Championship The Leinster Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in gaelic football played in the province of Leinster. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it were replaced by an under 17 ...

and the

Leinster Minor Hurling Championship The Leinster GAA Hurling Minor Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Electric Ireland Leinster GAA Hurling Minor Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic ...

with Dublin in 2011. He was on the losing side for both teams in the All-Ireland finals in 2011 at Croke Park. Kilkenny was called up to the Dublin under 21 team in 2012. He won the Leinster Under 21 Football Championship with Dublin in March 2012. Ciaran scored a total of 1-07 in the Leinster final against

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

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 ...

in Navan. The game finished on 1-16 to 0-08 with Dublin winning the game by a comfortable 11 point margin to become Leinster champions for the tenth time. Ciaran Kilkenny scored a total of 2-25 (0-7f) for Dublin in the Leinster Championship. Dublin went on to meet

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

in the All-Ireland semi-final at Portlaoise. Kilkenny scored just one point in a game in which Dublin won against the Munster champions. The game finished on a scoreline of 3-11 to 0-14. Ciarán won the all-Ireland under 21 championship with Dublin against Connacht champions

Roscommon Roscommon (; ; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60 road (Ireland), N60, N61 road (Ireland), N61 and N63 road (Irelan ...

in Tullamore. Kilkenny scored a total of four points in a close game against Roscommon which ended with heavy scoring from Dublin. The game finished on a scoreline of 2-12 to 1-11. Kilkenny was named the Cadbury's Hero of the Future for his performances with Dublin in 2012.

Senior

Kilkenny made his debut for the Dublin senior football team against

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

in the 2012

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 ...

when he came on as a substitute for

Diarmuid Connolly Diarmuid Connolly (born 7 July 1987) is an Irish Gaelic footballer. His league and championship career at senior level as a forward playing for the Dublin county team initially spanned 11 seasons from 2007 until 2018 when he left the panel afte ...

. He made his first start for the Dublin senior football team against Mayo in 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 ...

All-Ireland football semi-final defeat. He scored three points in the game.

Move to AFL

Kilkenny was linked to a possible move to Australia as a rookie in the Australian AFL. Dublin football legend Dessie Farrell described the potential departure of Kilkenny to Australian football as "a huge loss". confirmed the signing on 29 September 2011, after had also tried to secure the 19-year-old's services. Kilkenny flew to Melbourne to visit Hawthorn officials at Waverley, and was scheduled to become the first Irishman to play at the club. Recent changes to rookie list rules had made the recruitment of Irish players more appealing, with clubs now able to count one Irish player as an international rookie, meaning the player does not take up a main rookie spot. After just four months and a return to Ireland for the Christmas, Kilkenny decided for personal reasons to remain in Ireland where he wished to pursue a career with Castleknock and Dublin.

Return to Ireland

Upon his return to the native soil, Kilkenny collected both the 2013 NFL title and

2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2013 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 127th edition of the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament, played between 31 counties of Ireland (excluding Kilkenny GAA, Kilkenny), London ...

title with Dublin. In March 2014, he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

while fulfilling a Dublin football fixture at Croke Park against

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...

in a 2014 NFL, causing him to miss the rest of the season. By winning his sixth All Star in 2022, he drew level with

Stephen Cluxton Stephen Cluxton (born 17 December 1981) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays as a goalkeeper at senior level for the Dublin county team. Cluxton made his senior debut for Dublin during the 2001 Championship. Since then he has established h ...

and became the Dublin player with the joint highest number of awards.

International rules

Kilkenny played twice 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 ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the

2013 International Rules Series The 2013 International Rules Series (officially the 2013 Irish Daily Mail International Rules Series) was the 17th International Rules Series contested between Gaelic footballers from Ireland international rules football team, Ireland and Austral ...

, and scored a goal in the second Test at Croke Park.

Career statistics

: ''As of match played 28 June 2024''

Honours

;Dublin *

(8):

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

;Individual *

All Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

(6): 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilkenny, Ciaran 1993 births Living people All Stars Awards winners (football) Castleknock Gaelic footballers Castleknock hurlers Dual players DCU Gaelic footballers Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic football forwards Gaelic games players from Fingal Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Irish international rules football players Irish players of Australian rules football Irish schoolteachers People from Castleknock Winners of eight All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football) 21st-century Irish sportsmen