Kevin McCloy (born 26 October 1978) is 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 ...

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

who 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 ...

for the Derry county team, with whom he has won a

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

title. He also won 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 ...

for his performances in the

2007 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 2007 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was a Gaelic football competition in Ireland, and was the most significant and prestigious competition in the sport held that year. It began on 13 May 2007, with the final game t ...

. McCloy plays his club football for Erin's Own's Lavey. As a dual player, he also plays

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 Lavey, and has in the past also hurled for Derry - winning an

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

medal. He is well known for wearing his candystriped stockings above knee level. In football, he is seen as a tough, old-fashioned full back, who is also very competent with the ball in his hands going forward and a good reader of the game. Although full back is his usual position, he has said he prefers to play at

centre half back In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-bac ...

and has done so on occasion for Derry and Lavey.

Football career

Inter-county

McCloy matured late in football terms and he never played at

Minor Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to an ...

or Under 21 level for Derry. He joined the

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

team during the 2000/2001

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

and made his Championship debut in 2001 against Antrim. McCloy missed the 2004 Championship through injury, but had an exceptional year in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. He was nominated for an All Star. McCloy had another impressive season in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. Regular

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Kevin McGuckin Kevin "Slith" McGuckin (born 21 February 1981) is a Gaelic footballer who plays for the Derry county team, with whom he has won a National League title. McGuckin was captain of the Derry team for 2007 and is currently the vice-captain. He is re ...

got injured in the latter stages of the National League and McCloy became stand-in captain on the field of play that summer until McGuckin's return. After being knocked out of the Ulster Championship by

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 ...

at the semi-final stage, Derry advanced through the qualifiers with victories over

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

, Mayo and

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 ...

. Against Mayo McCloy shattered his little finger in three places while getting an accidental kick from Conor Mortimer. He displaced the bones so bad that they were pushed up beyond his knuckle. He played on and played against Laois two weeks later. Derry were paired with

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 All-Ireland quarter-final. Nine days before the tie McCloy had an operation on the finger. The surgeon told him not to play contact sport for 10 weeks and if he did he would risk never having the full use of his finger again. He contacted 10 doctors to see if any would administer a painkilling injection, but they all refused. McCloy played the game and despite finishing on the losing side in a tight encounter, McCloy was awarded

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

. On 19 October 2007 McCloy was named at full back on the 2007

team. The award is the fifth All Star from the Lavey club, following in the footsteps of

Anthony McGurk Anthony 'Tony' McGurk is a former Gaelic footballer who played for the Derry county team in the 1970s and 1980s. He won three Ulster Championships with the side (1970, 1975 and 1976). McGurk played club football with Erin's Own GAC Lavey, whe ...

(twice),

Johnny McGurk John McGurk (born 3 November 1965) is a former dual player of Gaelic games who played Gaelic football at senior level for the Derry county team in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winnin ...

and

Henry Downey Henry Downey (born 27 December 1966) is a former dual player of Gaelic games, who played as a Gaelic footballer at senior level for the Derry county team in the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, where he usually played in at centre half back. ...

. McCloy was named new Derry captain for the 2008 season. During the match against Dublin the previous year, he hit Mark Vaughan with a great shoulder tackle, however the tackle left McCloy with whiplash, hurting his other shoulder and also giving him groin problems which limited his appearances in the 2008 National League. The start of McCloy's 2008 season was an injury hit one - making just two substitute appearance in the Dr. McKenna Cup. He played seven games in the 2008 National League, three coming as a substitute. One of these substitute appearances came in the final, where he broke down injured in the warm-up, but came on later in the game. Derry defeated Kerry in the final. The league success saw Derry become favourites to win the Ulster Championship and one of the top few for the All-Ireland. However, despite a good opening victory against Donegal, Derry exited the Ulster Championship against Fermanagh at the semi-final stage and were defeated by

in the first round of the Qualifiers.

Province

McCloy was part of

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

's 2007

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship () or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster GAA teams are co ...

winning team.

International Rules

McCloy was asked to attend trials for the

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 ...

team for the

2008 International Rules Series The 2008 International Rules Series was the 14th annual International Rules Series and was played between Ireland international rules football team, Ireland and Australia international rules football team, Australia. After the 2007 series was ca ...

. He impressed initially and survived the initial cull of players from the squad, but did not make the final 27-man squad for the trip to

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 ...

, and was instead named as one of six standby players.

Hurling career

Inter-county

McCloy's first taste of inter-county action was with the Derry hurling team. McCloy won the 2000

with Derry, the county's first Ulster hurling title in 92 years. He left the hurling team when the footballers called him up the next season.

Club

With Lavey McCloy has won the

Derry Senior Hurling Championship The Derry Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition contested by top-tier Derry GAA clubs. The Derry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1887. Slaughtneil are the title holders, defeating ...

on 96 occasions.

Honours

Inter-county

: **Winner (1):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

: **Winner (1): 2000 *

Dr McKenna Cup The Dr McKenna Cup is an annual Gaelic football competition played between Counties of Ireland, counties and List of universities in Northern Ireland, universities in the province of Ulster GAA, Ulster. It is the secondary Gaelic football compe ...

: **Runner up: 2005, 2008, 2011

Club

: **Winner (?): Years? * Ulster Minor Club Hurling Championship: **Winner (1): 199x * Derry Minor Hurling Championship: **Winner (?): Years?

Province

: **Winner (1): 2007

References

External links

Meet the players - Laid-back interview with BBC OnlinePlayer profiles on Official Derry GAA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCloy, Kevin 1978 births Living people Derry inter-county Gaelic footballers Derry inter-county hurlers Dual players Irish international rules football players Lavey Gaelic footballers Lavey hurlers Sportspeople from County Londonderry Ulster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers