Setanta Ó hAilpín
Encyclopedia
Setanta "Carlos" Ó hAilpín (born in Sydney
, Australia
on 18 March 1983) is an Australian-Irish sportsman. He was a hurler
with the Cork senior team before becoming a professional Australian Rules football
er. He is of mixed Irish
and Rotuman
background. His brothers Seán Óg
, Teu
and Aisake
are also noted sportsmen.
father and a mother from the Fiji
an dependency
of Rotuma
. The family moved to Cork in Ireland
in 1988, and Setanta played both hurling and Gaelic football
for Na Piarsaigh
, eventually concentrating on hurling. In 2000 he was selected for the Cork minor team
. He studied at Waterford Institute of Technology
and starred on its Fitzgibbon Cup
-winning side in March 2003.
He joined his elder brother Seán Óg
on the Cork team for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2003
, which lost the final to Kilkenny
in September. His contribution to the campaign earned him an All-Star award
and the Young Hurler of the Year award.
In December 2003 Ó hAilpín announced his move to Australia to play Australian rules football for Carlton Football Club
in Melbourne
. This was considered surprising, as AFL recruiters in Ireland primarily targeted Gaelic footballers, and Ó hAilpín had concentrated on hurling. Younger brother Aisake
followed Setanta to Carlton, while elder brother Seán Óg continued with the Cork hurlers.
Setanta returned to Ireland in 2004 to play for the Irish team
in the 2004 International Rules Series
against Australia
. During his trip, he also turned out alongside his brothers for Na Piarsaigh as they won the Cork Senior Hurling Championship
.
, strong performances for Carlton's , the Northern Bullants
, saw Setanta elevated to the primary list in place of Anthony Franchina
during 2004; however, injury stunted his progress during that season. He made his AFL
debut during 2005, but had limited game time, scoring a goal with his only kick — a set shot at the very end of the game.
Ó hAilpín was placed on Carlton's senior list in 2006. After playing largely in the forward line for the first years of his development, he was shifted to half-back
in early 2006. He gained regular senior selection late in the season, going on to play in the final ten games of the season.
Ó hAilpín began the 2007 season playing at full-back
, playing the first six games there. An injury to Cameron Cloke
then saw Ó hAilpín replacing him as a back-up ruckman
. He has also been rotated forward from the ruck position, making him versatile. In June 2007, Setanta exchanged punches with teammate Cain Ackland
in a training match. The event drew some media attention, however the club at the time brushed the incident off.
Setanta became a crowd favourite amongst Carlton fans. His nickname "Carlos" is derived from the similarity between Setanta and Santana, the surname of Mexican/American guitarist Carlos Santana
. "Setanta" was the birth-name of Cúchulainn
, hero of the Ulster Cycle
of Irish mythology
.
On 6 February 2009, Ó hAilpín was suspended indefinitely by the Carlton Football Club for his involvement in a violent altercation with teammate Cameron Cloke
in an internal trial match. His actions were scrutinised by the AFL's match review panel on 9 February, and he faced being forced into anger management counselling. On 9 February 2009, Ó hAilpín was suspended for four weeks by the AFL tribunal after being charged with a level 4 offence for striking Cloke and a level 2 offence for kicking him. He came close to returning to Ireland.
Ó hAilpín was back in the side in Round 5 for the Blues' game with the Western Bulldogs
. In Carlton's Round 11 clash with Brisbane
at The Gabba, Ó hAilpín played his 50th AFL game, the third Irishman to achieve the milestone. He kicked a goal and set-up Brendan Fevola
for one as the Blues won by six points. Ó hAilpín played one of his best games against the unbeaten Saints on Round 12 clash. He kicked a vital final quarter goal and set-up another to Brendan Fevola
. Ó hAilpín's match performances only got better, and, for the first time ever, he booted four goals in a game against Fremantle in which the Blues sensationally came from behind at three quarter time to pinch an important win.
Before the game that would have seen Ó hAilpín play his first AFL final, the Irishman was dropped by the Carlton selection committee before the Elimination final against Brisbane.
Following the departure of Fevola in the 2009/10 offseason, Ó hAilpín became the regular full forward/half forward in the Carlton lineup. He began to average over two goals per game, and on May 2, he booted a career high five goals, becoming the first Irish player to do so.
During the AFL Trade Week at the end of 2010, Ó hAilpín was linked with a move to Western Bulldogs
after apparently being unhappy at being dropped from the Blues' side midway through the season and never getting back in. He played eight matches in 2011, including two finals, but was delisted at the end of the season; Carlton indicated that it would have preferred to have kept him on the list, but was forced to delist one more of its out-of-contract players due to league requirements that clubs make three changes to their primary list each season.
In the following offseason, Ó hAilpín was recruited to the inaugural AFL playing list of the Greater Western Sydney Football Club, the club using its fifth round selection in the 2011 AFL National Draft
(No. 79 overall) to recruit him.
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on 18 March 1983) is an Australian-Irish sportsman. He was a hurler
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
with the Cork senior team before becoming a professional Australian Rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
er. He is of mixed Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and Rotuman
Rotuman people
The Rotuman people are the indigenous inhabitants of Rotuma, a small island group forming part of the Republic of Fiji. The island itself is a cultural melting pot at the crossroads of the Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesian divisions of the Pacific Ocean, and due to the seafaring nature of...
background. His brothers Seán Óg
Seán Óg Ó hAilpín
Seán Óg Ó hAilpín is an iconic Irish-Fijian sportsperson. A former dual player, he currently plays hurling with his local club Na Piarsaigh and is a member of the Cork senior inter-county team. Ó hAilpín captained Cork to the All-Ireland title in 2005...
, Teu
Teu Ó hAilpín
Teu Ó hAilpín is an Irish sportsperson playing for Na Piarsaigh GAA. Born in Cork, he was a Gaelic Athletic Association player who played for the Éire Óg club in Ennis and Na Piarsaigh in Cork. He is the brother of Cork senior hurling players Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Aisake and older brother of...
and Aisake
Aisake Ó hAilpín
Aisake Faga Ó hAilpín is an Irish Australian sportsperson. He grew up in Cork and played hurling and Gaelic football with Na Piarsaigh. Ó hAilpín played Australian rules football with the Carlton Football Club between 2005 and 2008...
are also noted sportsmen.
Early Life and Gaelic Games
Ó hAilpín was born in Australia to an IrishIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
father and a mother from the Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
an dependency
Dependent territory
A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State, and remains politically outside of the controlling state's integral area....
of Rotuma
Rotuma
Rotuma is a Fijian dependency, consisting of Rotuma Island and nearby islets. The island group is home to a small but unique indigenous ethnic group which constitutes a recognizable minority within the population of Fiji, known as "Rotumans"...
. The family moved to Cork in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in 1988, and Setanta played both hurling and Gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
for Na Piarsaigh
Na Piarsaigh GAA
Na Piarsaigh are a Hurling and Gaelic football club based in the north side of Cork City, Ireland. The club was founded in 1943.-Birth of the club:...
, eventually concentrating on hurling. In 2000 he was selected for the Cork minor team
All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship
The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship is an annual competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1928 for competitors under eighteen years of age in the game of hurling played in Ireland.The series of games are played during the summer months with the All-Ireland final...
. He studied at Waterford Institute of Technology
Waterford Institute of Technology
Waterford Institute of Technology is a state funded third-level educational institution situated in the city of Waterford, Ireland. The Institute has six Schools and 16 Departments....
and starred on its Fitzgibbon Cup
Fitzgibbon Cup
The Fitzgibbon Cup the championship for top division of university hurling in Ireland. It is administrated by the Higher Education committee which is part of the Gaelic Athletic Association...
-winning side in March 2003.
He joined his elder brother Seán Óg
Seán Óg Ó hAilpín
Seán Óg Ó hAilpín is an iconic Irish-Fijian sportsperson. A former dual player, he currently plays hurling with his local club Na Piarsaigh and is a member of the Cork senior inter-county team. Ó hAilpín captained Cork to the All-Ireland title in 2005...
on the Cork team for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2003
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2003
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2003 was the 117th since its establishment in 1887. The first matches of the season were played in May 2003, and the championship ended on 14 September 2003...
, which lost the final to Kilkenny
Kilkenny GAA
The Kilkenny County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland and is responsible for Gaelic Games in County Kilkenny. The county board has its head office and main grounds at Nowlan Park and is also responsible for Kilkenny inter-county teams...
in September. His contribution to the campaign earned him an All-Star award
GAA All Stars Awards
The All Stars Awards, currently sponsored by Vodafone, are given annually since 1971 by the Gaelic Athletic Association to the best player in each of the fifteen positions in Gaelic football and Hurling in Ireland. Additionally, one player in each code is selected as the player of the year...
and the Young Hurler of the Year award.
In December 2003 Ó hAilpín announced his move to Australia to play Australian rules football for Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. This was considered surprising, as AFL recruiters in Ireland primarily targeted Gaelic footballers, and Ó hAilpín had concentrated on hurling. Younger brother Aisake
Aisake Ó hAilpín
Aisake Faga Ó hAilpín is an Irish Australian sportsperson. He grew up in Cork and played hurling and Gaelic football with Na Piarsaigh. Ó hAilpín played Australian rules football with the Carlton Football Club between 2005 and 2008...
followed Setanta to Carlton, while elder brother Seán Óg continued with the Cork hurlers.
Setanta returned to Ireland in 2004 to play for the Irish team
Ireland international rules football team
The Ireland International rules football team is the representative team for Ireland in international rules football, a compromise between Gaelic football and Australian rules football...
in the 2004 International Rules Series
International Rules Series
The International Rules Series is a senior men's International rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team and the Ireland international rules football team...
against Australia
Australia international rules football team
This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team....
. During his trip, he also turned out alongside his brothers for Na Piarsaigh as they won the Cork Senior Hurling Championship
Cork Senior Hurling Championship
The Evening Echo Cork County Senior Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Cork County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the top hurling teams in the county of Cork in Ireland....
.
AFL career
Originally placed on the rookie listRookie list
The Rookie List is a means for Australian Football League clubs to maintain additional players outside of the 38-man primary or senior list. Rookie listed players are not eligibile to play in AFL home and away or finals matches unless they are elevated to the senior list, either to replace a...
, strong performances for Carlton's , the Northern Bullants
Northern Bullants
Northern Blues Football Club is a long-established Australian rules football club based in Preston and currently playing in the Victorian Football League representing the central and outer areas of Melbourne...
, saw Setanta elevated to the primary list in place of Anthony Franchina
Anthony Franchina
Anthony Franchina is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.Debuting in 1997, Franchina became a regular first-team midfielder at the Carlton Football Club...
during 2004; however, injury stunted his progress during that season. He made his AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
debut during 2005, but had limited game time, scoring a goal with his only kick — a set shot at the very end of the game.
Ó hAilpín was placed on Carlton's senior list in 2006. After playing largely in the forward line for the first years of his development, he was shifted to half-back
Half-back line
In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre-half back and left and right half-back flank positions....
in early 2006. He gained regular senior selection late in the season, going on to play in the final ten games of the season.
Ó hAilpín began the 2007 season playing at full-back
Fullback (Australian rules football)
In Australian rules football, the fullback position has traditionally been a purely defensive role, with the aim of preventing the full-forward from marking the ball and scoring. However, in recent times, where the ability to move the ball out of defence and down the field quickly has become a more...
, playing the first six games there. An injury to Cameron Cloke
Cameron Cloke
Cameron Cloke is former Australian rules footballer. He is the son of former Richmond and Collingwood champion David Cloke.-AFL career:...
then saw Ó hAilpín replacing him as a back-up ruckman
Ruckman (Australian rules football position)
In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages . The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field...
. He has also been rotated forward from the ruck position, making him versatile. In June 2007, Setanta exchanged punches with teammate Cain Ackland
Cain Ackland
Cain Ackland is an Australian rules football player formerly in the Australian Football League.He was drafted by Port Adelaide in the second round of the 1999 AFL National Draft...
in a training match. The event drew some media attention, however the club at the time brushed the incident off.
Setanta became a crowd favourite amongst Carlton fans. His nickname "Carlos" is derived from the similarity between Setanta and Santana, the surname of Mexican/American guitarist Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
. "Setanta" was the birth-name of Cúchulainn
Cúchulainn
Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
, hero of the Ulster Cycle
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle , formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Down and...
of Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
.
On 6 February 2009, Ó hAilpín was suspended indefinitely by the Carlton Football Club for his involvement in a violent altercation with teammate Cameron Cloke
Cameron Cloke
Cameron Cloke is former Australian rules footballer. He is the son of former Richmond and Collingwood champion David Cloke.-AFL career:...
in an internal trial match. His actions were scrutinised by the AFL's match review panel on 9 February, and he faced being forced into anger management counselling. On 9 February 2009, Ó hAilpín was suspended for four weeks by the AFL tribunal after being charged with a level 4 offence for striking Cloke and a level 2 offence for kicking him. He came close to returning to Ireland.
Ó hAilpín was back in the side in Round 5 for the Blues' game with the Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
. In Carlton's Round 11 clash with Brisbane
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
at The Gabba, Ó hAilpín played his 50th AFL game, the third Irishman to achieve the milestone. He kicked a goal and set-up Brendan Fevola
Brendan Fevola
Brendan Fevola is a professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League....
for one as the Blues won by six points. Ó hAilpín played one of his best games against the unbeaten Saints on Round 12 clash. He kicked a vital final quarter goal and set-up another to Brendan Fevola
Brendan Fevola
Brendan Fevola is a professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League....
. Ó hAilpín's match performances only got better, and, for the first time ever, he booted four goals in a game against Fremantle in which the Blues sensationally came from behind at three quarter time to pinch an important win.
Before the game that would have seen Ó hAilpín play his first AFL final, the Irishman was dropped by the Carlton selection committee before the Elimination final against Brisbane.
Following the departure of Fevola in the 2009/10 offseason, Ó hAilpín became the regular full forward/half forward in the Carlton lineup. He began to average over two goals per game, and on May 2, he booted a career high five goals, becoming the first Irish player to do so.
During the AFL Trade Week at the end of 2010, Ó hAilpín was linked with a move to Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
after apparently being unhappy at being dropped from the Blues' side midway through the season and never getting back in. He played eight matches in 2011, including two finals, but was delisted at the end of the season; Carlton indicated that it would have preferred to have kept him on the list, but was forced to delist one more of its out-of-contract players due to league requirements that clubs make three changes to their primary list each season.
In the following offseason, Ó hAilpín was recruited to the inaugural AFL playing list of the Greater Western Sydney Football Club, the club using its fifth round selection in the 2011 AFL National Draft
2011 AFL Draft
The 2011 AFL Draft consists of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2011/12 Australian Football League off-season.They are:*Trade Week; which will be held between...
(No. 79 overall) to recruit him.