Matthew Clancy is a former

Gaelic footballer 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 ...

who played for

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. He won All-Ireland medals at under-21 and senior level. He plays his club football with Oughterard in

. Clancy won the 2003

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

while playing for

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

Career

Club

College

Clancy played for

and the team won the 2003

Inter-county

Clancy began his inter-county career in 2001. After a poor start in the Championship, Galway regrouped to progress through the qualifiers in style and get revenge over

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 the quarter-final. In the semi-final, Galway were second best to Derry for large periods of the game and in the 55th minute, the score was 1–10 to 0–08 in favour of Derry. However, a revival led by Derek Savage saw Galway fight back and in the 66th minute, Matthew struck the haymaker for Derry's chances of victory. He was on the field for just over ten minutes as Bergin's replacement. Declan Meehan and Michael Donnellan wove their way up the right flank, before releasing Savage. He jinked this way and that, creating enough space to allow room for the pass. Clancy drifted unmarked into the space in front of Eoin McCloskey's goal to take it, turned and fired high past the ’keeper. A couple more scores, from a

Pádraic Joyce Pádraic Joyce (born 1 April 1977) is a Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player who played as a forward. He has been manager of the senior Galway county football team, Galway county team since 2019. Joyce won the All ...

free and Paul Clancy, made certain the victory and Galway qualified for the All-Ireland final with a 3-point victory, 1–14 to 1–11. Galway went on to win the All-Ireland final that year, outclassing a

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 ...

side who had destroyed reigning champions Kerry in the other semi-final. The final score was 0–17 to 0-08. Clancy was also part of Galway's Under-21 All-Ireland success in 2002, defeating

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 ...

by 0–15 to 0-07. Over the next few years, he progressed form his super-sub role into a first choice pick for the Galway set-up, combining his progress with his university studies at Galway. Clancy won 4 Connacht titles, these came in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2008. After a few lean years during Peter Forde's time in charge, Galway recovered under a newly appointed manager,

Liam Sammon Liam Sammon (born 1946 in Galway) is an Irish former Gaelic football manager, coach, writer and former player. He played football with his local clubs Father Griffins and Salthill–Knocknacarra and was a member of the senior Galway county t ...

, to become a potential tip for the Sam Maguire Cup. Clancy became an influential presence in the Galway forward line alongside

and Michael Meehan. He was named Man Of The Match for his performance against Roscommon in the Connacht SFC 1st round in May 2008. He won his fourth Connacht title against Mayo on 13 July and earned a place in the quarter-finals as a result. In the build-up to the quarter-final clash against Kerry, Clancy struggled with injury and despite starting the match, he was taken off midway through the first-half. He came back on in the second half but Kerry ran out 1–21 to 1-16 winners over Galway. He scored 1–05 in the 2008 Championship. In 2012, Clancy announced his retirement from inter-county football.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clancy, Matthew 1982 births Living people Galway inter-county Gaelic footballers University of Galway Gaelic footballers Oughterard Gaelic footballers Cuala Gaelic footballers