Martin Clarke

Martin "Marty" Clarke (Irish: Máirtín Ó Cléirigh; born 13 November 1987) is a Gaelic and Australian rules footballer from Cranfield Point, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Clarke was an outstanding underage Gaelic football talent. He starred for Down GAA Minors, helping them to the 2005 All-Ireland Minor Football Championship and also played a large part in bringing his school (St Louis, Kilkeel), to 2 MacRory Cup finals in 2005 and 2006, and also to a MacLarnon Cup and an All Ireland Colleges 'B' title in as many years. He was part of the Down under-21 team that won an Ulster Championship in 2005. Clarke scored 3 goals and 20 points in an under 14 club game and 18 points in a schools game. He played senior football at local club level with An Ríocht as a centre half forward.

He was first alerted to AFL scouts in the 2005 MacRory Cup final, at which the Australian U17 international rules football team was present. He was invited to an AFL training camp in July 2006. He impressed scouts even more and on 22 August 2006 signed a contract with Collingwood Football Club, becoming the first ever truly international rookie for the club. In October 2007, when Clarke returned home from Australia for a three-week holiday and during that time helped his local club An Ríocht GAC lift its first ever Down Division One league title, defeating Kilcoo in the final. Clarke scored 2–1 in the final, which was played under lights in Pairc Esler, Newry on 26 October 2007. In 2008 Clarke lined out for An Ríocht. Clarke was dubbed by Collingwood assistant coach Guy McKenna as "the Irish equivalent of Nathan Buckley".