Marty Clarke hangs up the boots

Started by JoG2, March 02, 2017, 10:45:30 AM

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JoG2

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."

snoopdog

Massive loss to An Riocht and Down. Best of luck to him. A fantastic footballer.

DownFanatic

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.

maximus

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.

AZOffaly

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.

Taylor

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

Walter Cronc

Saw him terrorise Maghera in a McRory game once. Arguably the best underage player I've ever seen. No one could get near him!!

DownFanatic

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.

AZOffaly

I'm confused now. Is An Riocht not Marty Clarke's club?

ardtole

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.

AZOffaly

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.

Mourne Rover

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.

ardtole

Would Kilkeel and Lisnacree have been similar to Aghaderg and Ballyvarley? mr.

Main Street

A class footballer and a tragic way for such a talent to be so affected by a rare chronic condition.

mrdeeds

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.