Brendan Clarke: “I Have Always Aimed To Leave Everything On The Pitch, The Fans Know That” | OneFootball

Brendan Clarke is the goalkeeper of League of Ireland Premier Division side Galway United, playing in his 20th season in professional football. Brendan made his 550th appearance for the ‘Tribesmen’ against Sligo Rovers on 16th May (0-1), his 10th of the current season. Galway currently sit 8th in the table and are battling relegation; ninth place means a play-off against the second-placed team of the second tier, the First Division.

The 1.86m shot stopper started his career with 9-time champions St Patrick’s Athletic at the age of seventeen. He made his debut against Cork City in October 2004 in a season in which the club qualified for the UEFA Cup. In 2011, Clarke, who was called up for Ireland U23s in 2008, was signed by Sligo Rovers, where he achieved a league record with 9 consecutive clean sheets. The Dublin-born player goes on to make 31 appearances, helping the side to win the FAI Cup at the end of the season.

Returning to the capital, Clarke joins St Patrick’s for the 2012 season. With the Richmond Park-based club, Clarke plays in 128 games, and the club won the league in 2013, the first in 53 years for ‘St Pats’. which is followed by back-to-back League Cup wins in 2015 and 16.

In season 2016, Limerick signed the goalkeeper on a two-year deal with the Market Fields-based club. Brendan Clarke was awarded the Player of the Season in 2017. He completed 54 games for the ‘Super Blues’.  A third spell at ‘St Pats’ follows, he scores his only goal of his career from the penalty spot in a 2-1 over former club Sligo, the club finishes in 9th with Clarke playing every minute of the entire season. He is voted Player of the Season for the second year running at the club.

In 2020, then second-tier Shelbourne are the destination, with the ‘Reds’ Clarke appearing in 54 matches, promotion to the Premier Division is secured under manager Damien Duff.

Clarke moves to the Eamon Deacy Stadium to join newly-promoted Galway United ahead of the 2023 season. In 2021, he made his 500th career appearance against UCD in an FAI Cup match in August 2023. The club won the 2023 First Division title and promotion. The now thirty-nine-year-old has made 82 appearances for the West of Ireland-based club.

You joined your local side, St Pats, and made your first appearance at just seventeen. Did you ever have any regrets about becoming a professional footballer?

“Not pursuing my education was probably one of the biggest regrets I have now, looking back. I think sometimes that I should have went to the States or to UCD to get that third level education, but it turned out well in the end with the football, so that’s how it is.”

“There were loads, to be honest. I used to watch Match of the Day every Saturday, and in every game there’d be a player where you’d say: “I wish I could grow up to be like him”. If I had to pick one particular player, I’d go with Shay Given. We don’t have a lot of players from this country that you could say are ‘world class’, but Shay is definitely one of them.”

You achieved promotion with Galway, the club’s second. Tell me what makes this club special?

“What you find here is that this is an honest, hard-working group that goes for everyone here, the staff off the pitch and on the players on the pitch, the volunteers and people around the club, everyone has the club’s best interest at heart. We have done really well as a group here in terms of what we have achieved already.”

The Irish league is winning many friends now. Attendances reached a record of over 1 million in 2024. Shamrock Rovers played in the group stage of the Conference League against Chelsea, which attracted 38,000 fans, a record for an Irish team. Is the Irish league one to watch?

“I think it’s a better league because teams are better, there are higher standards across coaching, across players, facilities, pitches, and games are closer than ever, even in the last two years, it is a much better league with more full-time teams, and that makes everything more professional. The league is improving all the time. I have always preferred the League of Ireland, even if I watch the English league.”

From what I’m experiencing here tonight, the atmosphere at the Eamon Deacy has got to be one of the best in the Irish league.

“We are in our second season in the top tier after a gap of over five years, and whether we win or lose, this crowd still acknowledge the effort we put in; that’s what makes the supporters here special. The club has not always had it easy; there have been a lot of ups and downs, but what the fans here in Galway want to see is that you are giving everything for the jersey. If you do, they will support you.”

You are currently 6 points off the relegation play-off spot, ahead of your former club Sligo. Where do you see the club finishing?

“John, the manager, has us not watching the table. There are still twelve games left, there are just 6 points between us and the 6th place, anything can happen. We cannot look too far ahead and try and predict the finish. This league is crazy at times, all we can do is do our own job and see what happens at the end of the season.”

You have reached a career milestone, and at 39, you are one of the few players, including Dino Zoff and Gigi Buffon, to still be playing professionally. How does it feel?

“All you can do is look after yourself as a player, and that is what I aim to do. I have always tried to leave everything on the pitch as a player, I think the fans know that, and as long as I feel I can do that, I will keep playing football”.