Karl Lacey

Karl Lacey
Personal information
Irish name Carl de Lása[1]
Sport Gaelic football
Position Centre Back
Born (1984-09-10) 10 September 1984 (age 39)
County Donegal, Ireland
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Occupation Lecturer[2]
Club(s)
Years Club
?–
 The Four Masters
Club titles
Donegal titles 1
Inter-county(ies)
Years County Apps (scores)
2004–2017
 Donegal 148[3] (65 Championship)[4][5]
Inter-county titles
Ulster titles 3
All-Irelands 1
NFL 1
All Stars 4

Karl Lacey (born 10 September 1984) is an Irish Gaelic football coach,[5] manager[6] and former player for Four Masters and the Donegal county team.

His county's most decorated individual player,[3] his personal achievements include four All Star awards—in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012—[7] and the 2012 GAA/GPA Footballer of the Year.[8] His other accolades include an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title, three Ulster Senior Football Championship titles, a National Football League title, a Dr McKenna Cup, a Donegal Senior Football Championship title and three Sigerson Cups. Lacey's haul of Ulster SFC titles was a joint county team record (alongside such past players as Anthony Molloy, Martin McHugh, Joyce McMullan and Donal Reid) for four years until Patrick McBrearty, Neil McGee, Paddy McGrath, Leo McLoone, Frank McGlynn, Michael Murphy and Anthony Thompson surpassed it in 2018.

Considered very influential by many young footballers, Lacey was often spotted zipping around the field in his trademark white boots and white thermal shorts, and also dedicated time to voluntary work in aid of charitable organisations. Lacey's choice of shorts has been known to cause puzzlement among fans.[9]

Known as a versatile defender and one of the best half-backs in Ireland, Lacey was able to play anywhere in the back six until his retirement from Donegal in 2017. He was a consistent performer and never far away from another All Star nomination. However, his doctor complained that Lacey was "flogged to the point of breakdown".[10] Lacey put together a run of 41 consecutive championship appearances between the 2004 Ulster semi-final against Tyrone and 2013 Ulster quarter-final against Tyrone before injury broke his run.[11] He made a total of 148 inter-county appearances.[3] 65 were Championship appearances, a record he shares with Donegal teammate Christy Toye.[4][5]

  1. ^ "Countdown to Croker: Donegal name 'team' for All-Ireland final". 20 September 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc_04012021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Aidan (31 August 2017). "Karl Lacey — Donegal's most decorated footballer announces his retirement". Donegal GAA. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference the_42_31082017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference the42_05102017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference hs_29112023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Double delight for Donegal". Donegal on Sunday. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2010.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc_271020012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Maguire, Stephen (2 October 2012). "The real reason why Lacey was 'short'-changed at Croker". Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  10. ^ McCoy, Niall (14 December 2012). "Time for a club GPA". Gaelic Life. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference down_the_years was invoked but never defined (see the help page).