Paul Earley (born 3 July 1964) is a former Irish sportsman who played Australian rules football for

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

(VFL) and

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 ...

for the Roscommon county team. Earley was the first player recruited from Ireland to play a VFL match, beating Sean Wight who was also listed by Melbourne at the time. He made his only appearance in Melbourne's last game of the 1984 VFL season, when they lost to Richmond by 28 points at the MCG. Due to family reasons, Earley returned to Ireland at the end of the year and rejoined Roscommon, with whom his elder brother,

Dermot Earley Snr Lieutenant-General Dermot Earley DSM (24 February 1948 – 23 June 2010) was a high-ranking military official in Ireland and with the United Nations. He was the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces from 2007 to 2010. Early life and education E ...

, played. He was named as a full-forward in the 1985 GAA All Stars team and represented Ireland in the

1987 International Rules series The 1987 International Rules Series was the third series between Gaelic footballers from Ireland and Australian rules footballers from Australia. The series took place in Ireland and consisted of three test matches between the Australian and Irish ...

. The former VFL footballer then played in Roscommon's 1990 and 1991 Connacht Championship winning teams. Earley later managed both Allenwood and Celbridge. Earley has worked as a commentator for Setanta Sports. Since 2014, he has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports. On 4 February 2013, Earley was announced as the new manager of

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 ...

. His tenure with Ireland was reasonably successful - he is most noted for leading the country to record-breaking victories over Australia to win the

2013 International Rules Series The 2013 International Rules Series (officially the 2013 Irish Daily Mail International Rules Series) was the 17th International Rules Series contested between Gaelic footballers from Ireland and Australian footballers from Australia. Ireland ...

title. He returned to the coaching role for the 2014 test match, though oversaw an Irish squad which fell 10 points short of a star-studded Australian team.

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Earley, Paul 1964 births Living people Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic football managers Gaelic games commentators Ireland international rules football team coaches Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Irish players of Australian rules football Melbourne Football Club players Michael Glavey's Gaelic footballers Roscommon inter-county Gaelic footballers VFL/AFL players born outside Australia

See also

References

External links