Karl Lacey

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

His county's most decorated individual player, his personal achievements include four All Star awards—in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012— and the 2012 GAA/GPA Footballer of the Year. 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.

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". 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. He made a total of 148 inter-county appearances. 65 were Championship appearances, a record he shares with Donegal teammate Christy Toye. Provided by Wikipedia