Nollaig Cleary-Uí Chróinín (born 1981) is an Irish retired

ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball toward ...

er who played as a right wing-forward for the

Cork county ladies' football team The Cork county ladies' football team represents Cork GAA in ladies' Gaelic football. The team competes in inter-county competitions such as the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship, the Munster Senior Ladies' Football Championship an ...

. Born in

Castlehaven Castlehaven () is a civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork, approximately 45 miles south-west of Cork City on the coast. The civil parish includes the town of Castletownshend and the hamlets of Rineen and Tragumna. Th ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Cleary first played competitive Gaelic football in her youth. She made her senior debut during the 2004 championship. Cleary immediately became a regular member of the starting fifteen and won nine

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medals, ten Munster medals and eight

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 ...

medals. At club level Cleary is a one-time

medallist in the junior grade with Gabriel Rangers. Cleary's brother, John Cleary, and her husband,

Mícheál Ó Cróinín Mícheál Ó Cróinín (born 1977) is an Irish retired Gaelic footballer and current sports broadcaster. His league and championship career with the Cork senior team spanned seven seasons from 1999 to 2005. Born in Baile Bhúirne, County Cork, ...

, also played with Cork. After retiring from inter-county football in January 2013, Cleary later reversed her decision. She announced her second retirement from inter-county football on 4 June 2015.

Honours

Player

;Cork *

All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship () is the premier inter-county competition in the game of ladies' Gaelic football in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association and are played during ...

(9): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 *Munster Senior Ladies' Football Championship (10): 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 * Ladies' National Football League (8): 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Nollaig 1981 births Living people Cork inter-county ladies' Gaelic footballers Irish schoolteachers Winners of four All-Ireland medals (ladies' football) 21st-century Irish sportswomen