Killian Clarke (born 19 September 1993) is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

er from Shercock,

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the historic Gaelic territory of East Breffny (''Bréifn ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

; who plays with his club Shercock and for the Cavan county team. He is one of a small number of latter-day Cavan players to have won Ulster football championship titles at Minor, U21 and Senior grade, as well as a Railway Cup football title with Ulster in 2016.

Playing career

Clarke is a nephew of former Cavan GAA Football forward and past Cavan Minor Football Manager, Jodie Clarke. He plays club football for Shercock GAA. Killian was a promising underage track and cross country athlete with Shercock AC and Cavan as well as a prominent underage soccer player, before focussing his energies on Gaelic Football in his mid-teens.

Cavan Minors

When he was 16, he was selected for Cavan minor trials but was not selected for the county after being told he was too slow so he joined a cross-country team at Shercock AC to improve his speed. He was selected to play Minor Football for Cavan in 2010 and 2011, and was part of the Cavan Minor Team that won the Ulster Minir Championship in 2011 after a 37 year gap.

Cavan U21's

Clarke graduated from Minor in 2011 to U21 in 2012, and won a trilogy of Ulster U21 titles between 2012 and 2014

University

Clarke attended university at the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. During his time there, Clarke contested two Sigerson Cup campaign - including 2016 - when UU were hosts.

Cavan Senior Football Team

Whilst at UU, at the age of 19 he made his inter-county debut for Cavan against Donegal in the

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is us ...

. After leaving university, he became a stockbroker in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

for

Cantor Fitzgerald Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. is an American financial services firm that was founded in 1945. It specializes in institutional equity, fixed income sales and trading, and serving the middle market with investment banking services, prime brokerage, an ...

. In 2013, Clarke was nominated for the

GAA GPA All Stars Awards The Gaelic Athletic Association-Gaelic Players' Association All Stars Awards (often known simply as the All Stars) are awarded annually to the best player in each of the 15 playing positions in Gaelic football and hurling. Additionally, one play ...

, being his clubs first GPA All-Star nominee. In 2017, he was named captain of Cavan for the year. This lasted for a year before Clarke stepped down. In 2019, Clarke played in his first Ulster final, losing to Donegal. In 2019, Clarke received a red card during Cavan's

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

match against Tyrone at

Healy Park Healy Park (known as O'Neills Healy Park for sponsorship reasons) is a GAA stadium in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and is named after a GAA clubman from Omagh, Michael Healy. Healy Park is the home ground of Omagh St. Enda's and th ...

. Later in the year, Clarke announced he was stepping away from county football temporarily due to wanting to focus on his personal life after having made 72 senior appearances for his county. Killian returned to the Cavan panel for the delayed 2020 Ulster Championship campaign, where Cavan shocked Donegal in an eventful Ulster Final to bring the Anglo Celt Cup back to the Breffni county. Cavan exited the 2020 All-Ireland Championship at the hands of Dublin in the AI Semi-Final. Clarke was part of the Cavan team that won promotion from NFL Division 4 to Division 3 in 2022, winning the NFL Divisional Final against Tipperary in Croke Park in April 2022 in the process.

Ulster

In 2016, Clarke was selected at Full Back by Ulster Team Manager Pete McGrath to represent Ulster in the Interprovincial Railway Cup. Ulster defeated Munster in the Semi-Final and overcame Connacht in Pairc Sean MacDiarmada in December 2016, to win his first Railway Cup. In 2020, Killian was part of the Cavan Senior Football team which won the Ulster Senior Football Championship and secured a second Irish News Ulster All Star Award in the process.

International rules

In 2015 he was placed on the standby list for the Ireland's

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 ...

against Australia, however did not play. On 25 October 2017, Clarke was named in the

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

squad for the

2017 International Rules Series The 2017 International Rules Series (officially the 2017 Virgin Australia International Rules Series) was the 20th International Rules Series contested by Gaelic footballers from Ireland international rules football team, Ireland and Australian r ...

against Australia in November. Clarke played for Ireland during the series despite issues with his passport.

Honours

;Ulster * InterProvincial Football (Railway Cup): 2016 ;Cavan *

(1):

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

* Ulster Under-21 Football Championship (3): 2012, 2013, 2014 * Ulster Minor Football Championship (1): 2011 ;Shercock * Cavan Intermediate Football Championship (1): 2017 * Cavan Junior Football Championship (1): 2011 ;Individual * Tailteann Cup Team of the Year (1): 2022 * ''Irish News'' Ulster All-Star (2): 2013, 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Killian 1993 births Living people Cavan inter-county Gaelic footballers Stockbrokers