Ciarán Lyng (born 9 July 1986) is an

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 ...

-nominated Irish sportsperson. He plays

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 ...

and

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

for St Martin's and Gaelic football for the

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

senior inter-county team, and has played

international rules football International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

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 ...

. He has also played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and at under-age level for

Early and personal life

Lyng grew up as one of four brothers in Wexford, playing football, hurling, handball and soccer. His brother Diarmuid Lyng plays hurling for Wexford.

Soccer career

Lyng played soccer almost thirty times for Ireland at underage level. He had a number of offers from British clubs such as

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

but opted to move to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. Lyng moved to Shrewsbury Town in December 2004. He made four substitute appearances in the latter half of the 2004–05 season. In the 2005–06 season for Shrewsbury, he made one start, in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

match which Shrewsbury lost to

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

Football career

Lyng has since been selected for the Wexford Gaelic football team in the

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 ...

. He was a member of the Wexford panel which reached the 2008

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Asso ...

final. Lyng scored four points 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 ...

in the quarter-final and one point 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 semi-final. However, Wexford were easily defeated by

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 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final. Wexford went on to surprisingly reach the

semi-final, where they were comfortably beaten by Tyrone. 2008 was a year to remember for Lyng: he was nominated for an All-Star and he then represented Ireland against Australia in the

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team ...

that October. A first county medal topped off a great year for Lyng when his St. Martin's team comfortably beat Oulart the Ballagh in a huge upset in the Wexford Senior County Hurling Final. Ciarán won his first County Medal with St Martin's in Intermediate Football in 2007, gaining the 'Man of the Match' award. His brother Diarmuid Lyng captained that side. He subsequently won a senior county football title with his club in 2013 and he has won two senior county hurling titles with St Martin's in 2017 and 2019.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyng, Ciaran 1985 births Living people Dual players Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish international rules football players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Preston North End F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players St Martin's (Wexford) hurlers St Martin's (Wexford) Gaelic footballers Wexford inter-county Gaelic footballers Men's association football defenders Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Association footballers from County Wexford English Football League players 21st-century Irish sportsmen