Dean Rock
Personal information
Sport Gaelic football
Position Left corner-forward
Born (1990-02-26) 26 February 1990
Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Occupation Fundraising & communications manager
Club(s)
Years Club
2007–present
 Ballymun Kickhams
Club titles
Dublin titles 2
Leinster titles 1
Colleges(s)
Years College
2011–2014
 Dublin City University
College titles
Sigerson titles 1
Inter-county(ies)*
Years County Apps (scores)
2013–present
 Dublin 53 (11–253)[1]
Inter-county titles
Leinster titles 12
All-Irelands 8
NFL 6
All Stars 3
*Inter County team apps and scores correct as of 22:43, 2 September 2021 (UTC).

Dean Rock (born 26 February 1990) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who has been a senior member of the Dublin county team since 2013.[2]

He has represented Dublin at all grades, Minor, Junior, U21 and Senior. He is a noted free taker and scored the winning point from a free in the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Colm O'Rourke has described Rock as "statistically the best free taker that has been to Croke Park".[3]

Early life

Born in Ballymadun, Garristown, Rock was born into a family with a strong association with Gaelic football. His great-grandfather, grandfather and granduncle all worked as groundsmen at Croke Park, while his father, Barney Rock, is an All-Ireland medal winner with Dublin.[4]

Playing career

Secondary school

Rock attended the Catholic University School where he played rugby union in the absence of a Gaelic football team.

Club

He simultaneously came to prominence at juvenile and underage levels with the Ballymun Kickhams club before making his debut with the senior team in 2008. Since then he has won one Leinster medal and two county senior championship medals.

Inter-county

Minor and under-21

Rock made his debut on the inter-county scene when he was selected for the Dublin minor team. After an unsuccessful tenure with the minor team, he later won an All-Ireland medal as part of the Dublin under-21 team.

Junior

Dean Rock represented Dublin at Junior level in the 2009 Leinster Junior Football Championship. Dublin were knocked out in the semi-final by Louth. Dean Rock scored a total of 14 points for Dublin in his two appearances for Dublin Juniors. [5]

Senior

Rock made his senior debut during the 2012 league when he was introduced as a substitute against Donegal in March. He made his championship debut the following year against Westmeath. Since then he has won six All-Ireland medals, beginning with his first title in 2013 and followed by five successive championships from 2015 to 2019. Rock has also won six Leinster medals and five National League medals. Rock has been awarded two All Star awards for Dublin in 2017 and 2016, when he finished the season as top scorer of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Rock only started his first league match for Dublin in 2015, after which he participated in 63 consecutive league and championship games.[1]

He is noted for his taking Dublin's frees, while attaining hitherto unimaginable levels of accuracy.[1] Having spent to years as a substitute in 2013 and 2014, he studied placed-ball kicking and worked kicking expert Dave Alred, as he revealed in 2017.[1]

In the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final replay defeat of Mayo, Rock scored 0–9 (including seven frees).[1]

In the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final defeat of Mayo, Rock scored 0–7 (including three frees), including the late winner through Lee Keegan's thrown GPS pack.[1]

In the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final defeat of Tyrone, Rock also scored 0–7 (including four frees).[1]

Rock's fifth point of the drawn 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final (which gave Dublin a lead of 1–7 to 0–6) was his 411th point for his county in league and championship in his 88th game.[1] Combined with his 14 Dublin goals, Rock passed Bernard Brogan the Second to become the second highest scorer ever in Dublin football.[1] Unusually, Rock has done this mostly through points; he has the lowest goal-scoring record among the top ten (with only Charlie Redmond's 15 goals within reach) and achieved the feat while making fewer appearances than those around him in the all-time list.[1]

Rock holds the record for the fastest goal scored in the history of All-Ireland SFC finals, after sending the ball past David Clarke directly from the throw-in of the 2020 final, breaking Kerryman Garry McMahon's record which had stood since the 1962 final.[6]

Career statistics

As of match played 14 August 2021.
Appearances and scores by team, season and competition
Team Season National League Leinster All-Ireland Total
DivisionAppsScoreAppsScoreAppsScoreAppsScore
Dublin 2013 Division 1 20–0230–0630–0480–12
2014 00–0030–0820–0250–10
2015 91–5232–1240–11163–75
2016 91–4031–2840–30162–98
2017 80–4832–1131–20143–79
2018 81–3232–1640–25153–73
2019 72–3210–0451–35133–71
2020 73-3731-1621-10125-63
2021 00-0030-0810-0740-15
2022 30-1200-0000-0030-12
Total 538–255258–109283–14410619–508

Personal life

Rock is in a relationship with the Niamh McEvoy, the Dublin senior ladies' footballer. [7][8][9]

Following the completion of the five-in-row in 2019, Rock spent a week in New York with Ciarán Kilkenny and Paddy Andrews.[10]

He debuted the "Dean Rock Free Taking Project" in mid-2020.[11]

Honours

Dublin City University
Ballymun Kickhams
Dublin
Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 McKeon, Conor (11 September 2019). "Dublin's all-time leading scorers: How Dean Rock surpassed Bernard Brogan - and his own father". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  2. ↑ Breheny, Martin (1 August 2013). "Rock set to spearhead Dublin attack for Rebels date". Irish Independent. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  3. ↑ O'Rourke, Colm (22 September 2019). "General Gavin makes history with no histrionics, victory without vanity". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "Barney Rock: Dean more than a 'super sub' for Dublin". RTÉ Sport. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  5. ↑ Callan, Gerry (2017). The Dubs, The Complete Record of Dublin Football, 1887-2017. Bray, Co. Wicklow: Ballpoint Press. p. 296. ISBN 978-0-9954793-7-1.
  6. ↑ "Rock smashes fastest goal record in All-Ireland SFC final". Hogan Stand. 19 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "'When our training schedules are heavy we're still getting to hang out' - Dubs football stars Niamh McEvoy and Dean Rock move in together". www.independent.ie. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  8. ↑ "All Star McEvoy out to shine in Bangkok before cheering on the Dubs". www.rte.ie. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  9. ↑ "Double take: Two Dublin GAA WAGs wear the same colourful dress to celebrate team's win". www.independent.ie. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  10. ↑ McKeon, Conor (25 September 2019). "'There hasn't been that discussion' - Dublin not yet talking about possible retirements". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Dean caught between a Rock and a hard place over training sessions". RTÉ. 23 July 2020.
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