An absolutely brilliant footballer, sad to hear.
Former Down playmaker Marty Clarke has called time on his playing career at the age of 29.
The An Riocht man informed his club mates of the decision last week after having spoken with a consultant in the weeks after Queen's University's Sigerson Cup defeat to DCU last month.
An outstanding underage prospect, Clarke had two separate spells with AFL giants Collingwood and backboned Down's run to the 2010 All-Ireland final against Cork after returning home from his first stint.
He returned home from Australia for the second time in November 2014, just months after being diagnosed with an extremely rare case of Addison's disease.
Speaking in today's Irish News about his decision to retire, Clarke stated: "I made the decision because of the stress it's putting me under.
"The dynamic nature of Gaelic where you're running, you're jumping, I was putting my body under a lot of stress.
"I just felt completely zapped from the start of the game to the finish. When I got home it was taking me longer and longer to recover.
"I went and got a bit of advice from the consultant and he recommended I stop competitive sport."
"It probably hasn't sunk in totally but I know in my heart, the way I was feeling after a lot of football games for club and Queens, that it's not safe and I'm not doing myself justice probably
"The Kingdom have been first class and it was pretty emotional telling the fellas."
Massive loss to An Riocht and Down. Best of luck to him. A fantastic footballer.
An absolutely outstanding talent. Always remember he scored 1-16 in a Treanor Cup Ulster Colleges game and it basically made the whole county stand up and take notice. From thereon in he won an All Ireland Colleges B title and played in two MacRory Finals as well as leading the 2005 county minor team to the All Ireland title.
Just a pity we didn't get to see more of him in the Red and Black.
The class of 2005, that won the All Ireland Minor, should all be in their prime now but they all achieved a lot quite young and like Clarke, they've just kind of faded from the limelight much to the detriment of Down football.
I also remember him in his McRory days when you'd go to the games just to see him play. A serious talent who always carried himself so well on the field.
Sad to see him hand up the boots so young. An immense talent who brought a game to life.
Very sad to hear alright. Great playmaker.
As an aside, do Down lads call An Riocht the Kingdom? I've never heard it referred to in English.
Outstanding talent who could have been a Down all time great had he been with them full time.
Dont know much about the disease but he has obviously pushed himself as much as he possibly could before calling time.
Is making a fist of the commentating so fair play - imagine he will be managing soon enough as well
Saw him terrorise Maghera in a McRory game once. Arguably the best underage player I've ever seen. No one could get near him!!
Quote from: AZOffaly on March 02, 2017, 11:00:41 AM
Very sad to hear alright. Great playmaker.
As an aside, do Down lads call An Riocht the Kingdom? I've never heard it referred to in English.
Yes, they are known as the Kingdom. An Riocht are an amalgamation of 2/3 clubs in the Upper Mourne area.
I'm confused now. Is An Riocht not Marty Clarke's club?
An Riocht is Marty Clarkes club. Locally it is known as the kingdom. Around late 60s maybe early 70s, 3 clubs amalgamated to form the current An Riocht club. Kilkeel, Greencastle and lisnacree (i think) were the original clubs.
I get you, so locally, the club is known by it's English name? That's gas. I've only ever heard it referred to as An Riocht.
There were seven clubs in what is traditionally known as the Kingdom of Mourne - Attical, Ballymartin, Glasdrumman, Greencastle, Longstone and Lisnacree in football and Kilkeel in hurling. Around 1981, the Lisnacree and Kilkeel clubs, which were essentially the same outfit anyway, amalgamated with Greencastle to form An Riocht/The Kingdom. The other Mourne clubs were not completely thrilled about a title which appeared to ignore them, and would often have used the term `the town' instead, but An Riocht is now the generally accepted name.
Would Kilkeel and Lisnacree have been similar to Aghaderg and Ballyvarley? mr.
A class footballer and a tragic way for such a talent to be so affected by a rare chronic condition.
Quote from: DownFanatic on March 02, 2017, 10:56:19 AM
An absolutely outstanding talent. Always remember he scored 1-16 in a Treanor Cup Ulster Colleges game and it basically made the whole county stand up and take notice. From thereon in he won an All Ireland Colleges B title and played in two MacRory Finals as well as leading the 2005 county minor team to the All Ireland title.
Just a pity we didn't get to see more of him in the Red and Black.
The class of 2005, that won the All Ireland Minor, should all be in their prime now but they all achieved a lot quite young and like Clarke, they've just kind of faded from the limelight much to the detriment of Down football.
Remember that Down team well. Couple classic counters with Cavan. Cavan missed last minute free the second game to equalise from Ray Galligan, now senior keeper. Marty was quiet second day but played carrying injury. Other Riocht classy players if memory serves me right. Was a great Cavan team with Cian Mackey, Ronan Flanagan and Cillian Sheridan now an Irish soccer international at midfield.
In response to Ardtole, the relationship was very similar to Ballyvarley/Aghaderg. There had previously been a football club called Kilkeel but it folded in the 1950s. Lisnacree then took over the town's catchment area for football, but the hurling club was still called Kilkeel. The Greencastle club, where Marty Clarke's dad played, was also just outside Kilkeel, but was very short of numbers, so the amalgamation between the three outfits made sense.
The retirement of Marty does not come as a surprise, as he was frequently struggling for fitness and cannot take any risks with his health. However, it is an enormous loss to An Riocht, Down and the GAA in general.
The best four underage Down players I have seen were Dalsey Mooney, Greg Blaney, James McCartan jnr and Marty Clarke, and, while they were completely different footballers, it would be very difficult to separate them in terms of ability. Greg and James had glittering senior careers but Dalsey's was over almost before it started. We only got two senior seasons from Marty but he was the catalyst in turning a side which was just out of division three into one which could and should have won an All Ireland.
We could also talk about many exceptional days with Down minors and St Louis, as well as the massive impact he initially made with Collingwood, and wonder about what might have happened if he had avoided such a rare condition, but we should probably be thankful that we had such a magical talent even for a short period and hope that another Marty may eventually appear.
Wonderful player. A joy to watch.
A star. Those days at Mc crory and ai minor are probably amongst the highlights, there's something magical about watching raw talent tear it up at youth level.
Tore Mayo minors to shreds in 05 final. That was some Down team.
Quote from: ballinaman on March 02, 2017, 10:43:50 PM
Tore Mayo minors to shreds in 05 final. That was some Down team.
Not one of that Down starting XV from that day is involved with the current Down senior team.
Very sorry to hear his playing career has been cut short. A hugely talented player who I enjoyed watching. Hope his health issues don't impact the rest of his life too much.
Quote from: DownFanatic on March 03, 2017, 12:23:35 AM
Quote from: ballinaman on March 02, 2017, 10:43:50 PM
Tore Mayo minors to shreds in 05 final. That was some Down team.
Not one of that Down starting XV from that day is involved with the current Down senior team.
Sorry to hear that Marty has had to call it quits. Was just thinking about what he was up to yesterday as he was a pundit on Eirsport.
Mayo got Cafferkey, Cunniffe and Chris Barrett from that team, while Pearse Hanley will always be the 'what might have been' category
How's the younger Hanley getting on in Australia?
Quote from: Jinxy on March 03, 2017, 11:09:55 AM
How's the younger Hanley getting on in Australia?
Contract is up this year, not known if getting a new one. Arrived in Brisbane after doing his ACL in All Ireland minor semi final vs Kerry in 2014. Subsequently had a serious groin injury off the back of 14 month rehab for his ACL. His brother has moved to the Gold Coast Suns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v4osAcrVyo
Sounds like ye will be getting him back so.
Hope he can get over the injuries.
Where did he play before he left, half forward / full forward?
Ya, centre forward. The lad could play....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHX5MAvImnU
At a league game in Castlebar a few years back Marty is taking a 50. He slips on his approach run but it's a split second before he impacts the ball. The momentum allows for a low trajectory that rifles it's way into the top corner of the net. All around are laughing and joking at the fluke except for the Down supporter beside me who says "shur Marty practices that in training all the time".
One of the greats.
Great player ...All the best Marty hope you enjoy your free time ...
Be a good pundit for T.v just fresh out of the game and having played a lot of high profile games in the last 6-7 years!
Saw Martin Clarke in a McLarnon cup final. It was the best individual performance I ever saw on a GAA pitch. Sad to see him retire so early.
Great player who we probably didn't see the best of.
Quote from: DownFanatic on March 03, 2017, 12:23:35 AM
Quote from: ballinaman on March 02, 2017, 10:43:50 PM
Tore Mayo minors to shreds in 05 final. That was some Down team.
Not one of that Down starting XV from that day is involved with the current Down senior team.
Cathal Magee was on that minor panel. And Packie Downey. Also McKernan made a sub appearance in the AI final. Plenty of others from that team have played for Down in recent times. Duffin, McComisky. Fitzpatrick and Garvey probably most notable.
Marty Clarke was a cut above any player at underage level. Too many individual performances to start naming. For school club and county. Crazy to think he is being talked about in such circles as McCartan, Linden, Blaney, Coulter et al as a legend of Down football. Im not saying hes not of that ilk but he only played 2 (?) seasons with seniors. I suppose that shows how much everyone thinks of him, he's held in such esteem. Such a shame the rest of the country didnt really get to see what us Down folk did. Yous really were all missing a treat.