Colm Spillane (born 1 July 1993) is an Irish hurler who plays for Cork Championship club

Castlelyons Castlelyons () is a small village in the east of County Cork, Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Barrymore.

Cork senior hurling team The Cork county hurling team represents Cork in hurling and is governed by Cork GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Hurling C ...

at various stages between 2013 and 2021, during which time he usually lined out as a corner-back. Spillane began his hurling career at club level with

Castlelyons Castlelyons () is a small village in the east of County Cork, Ireland. It is also a civil parish in the barony of Barrymore.

. He broke onto the club's top adult team as a 16-year-old in 2010, before later lining out for

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...

and

Imokilly Imokilly ( ga, Uí Mhic Coille) is one of the baronies of Ireland, an historical geographical unit of land. Its chief town is Youghal. It is one of 24 baronies in the county of Cork. Other neighbouring baronies include Barrymore to the west (wh ...

, winning consecutive

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

titles with the latter. At inter-county level, Spillane enjoyed five consecutive but unsuccessful seasons with the Cork minor and under-21 teams, before later winning an All-Ireland Intermediate Championship title. He joined the Cork senior team in 2013. Spillane's senior career was blighted by a series of injuries, however, he made a combined total of 31

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

and

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

appearances in a career that ended with his last game in 2021. During that time he was part of two

Munster Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurlin ...

-winning teams – in 2017 and 2018. Spillane was an All-Ireland Championship runner-up on one occasion. He announced his retirement from inter-county hurling on 6 December 2021.

Playing career

College

Spillane first came to prominence as a hurler with St. Colman's College in

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,500 people. It is located in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, and is in the D� ...

. Having played hurling in every grade during his time at the school, winning a White Cup title in the under-15 grade, he usually lined out in the forwards on the senior team in the Harty Cup.

University

As a student at University College Cork, Spillane joined the college senior team. In 2017 he was captain of the team for the

Fitzgibbon Cup The Fitzgibbon Cup ( ga, Corn Mhic Giobúin) is the trophy for the premier hurling championship among higher education institutions (universities, colleges and institutes of technology) in Ireland. The Fitzgibbon Cup competition is administered ...

, while he has also lined out with the college in the

county championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

Club

Spillane joined the Castlelyons club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels, winning an under-21 championship medal in 2010 following a defeat of

Ballinascarthy Ballinascarty (), also known as Ballinascarthy, is a village in County Cork, Ireland. Location Ballinascarty lies in West Cork, approximately north-northeast of Clonakilty and 15km south-west of Bandon, on the main N71 road from Clonakilt ...

. He has also been selected for divisional side Imokilly in the senior championship.

Inter-county

Minor, under-21 and intermediate

Spillane first played for Cork at minor level on 26 June 2010 in a draw with

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. He was captain of the team for Cork's unsuccessful season in 2011 before playing for three unsuccessful seasons with the Cork under-21 team. By this stage, Spillane had also joined the Cork intermediate team, winning a

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

medal on 25 June 2014 after a 4-15 to 2-08 defeat of

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

. On 9 August 2014, he won an

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medal following a 2-18 to 2-12 defeat of

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N1 ...

in the final.

Senior

Spillane made his senior debut for Cork on 19 January 2013 in a

Waterford Crystal Cup The Waterford Crystal Cup was an annual hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association from 2006 to 2015 for the top inter-county teams and third-level institutes and universities in the province of Munste ...

defeat of University College Cork at the

Mardyke Arena The Mardyke, also referred as the Mardyke Sports Ground, is the sport and fitness facilities used by sports team representing University College Cork, the general student body, and members of the public. It is based in the Cork district of Mardy ...

. He made his first start in a

relegation play-off defeat by

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * C ...

on 14 April 2013. Spillane was a regular member of the league panel for the 2014 campaign, before being released prior to the start of the championship and being omitted completely in 2015. Spillane returned to the senior panel in 2016, however, he missed the latter stages of the league and the championship after suffering a cruciate ligament injury in a game against Waterford. After recovering, he made his first championship start on 21 May 2017 in a

quarter-final defeat of Tipperary. On 9 July 2017, Spillane won his first Munster medal following a 1-25 to 1-20 defeat of Clare in the final. On 1 July 2018, Spillane won a second successive Munster medal following a 2-24 to 3-19 defeat of Clare in the final. He ended the season by being nominated for an All-Star Award. On 5 March 2019, it was confirmed that Spillane, who had missed the early stages of the

, was not able to get back to full training until closer to the

. The extent of his injuries resulted in Spillane missing the entire championship campaign. On 7 January 2020, Spillane returned to the Cork senior team when he lined out at right corner-back in Cork's 2-18 to 1-20 defeat by

in the

Canon O'Brien Cup The Canon O'Brien Cup is an annual hurling match contested by Cork and University College Cork. The match, usually played in January at the Mardyke Sports Ground, is often regarded as a pre-season warm-up game for the two participants. Organis ...

Career statistics

Honours

;Castlelyons * Cork Under-21 B Hurling Championship: 2010 ;Imokilly *

Cork Senior Hurling Championship The Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PSHC) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Cork County B ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

;Cork *

Munster Senior Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurlin ...

All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling Intermediate All-Ireland Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Effectively contested by the secon ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Munster Intermediate Hurling Championship The Munster Hurling Intermediate Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1961 for the strong hurling teams in the province of Munster in Ireland. In some cases the teams consist of players ...

References

External links

Colm Spillane profile
at the Castlelyons GAA website
Colm Spillane profile
at the Cork GAA website {{DEFAULTSORT:Spillane, Colm 1993 births Living people Castlelyons hurlers UCC hurlers Imokilly hurlers Cork inter-county hurlers People educated at St Colman's College, Fermoy