Paul Earley

Paul Earley (born 3 July 1964) is a former Irish sportsman who played Australian rules football for Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Gaelic football for the Roscommon county team.

Earley was the first player recruited from Ireland to play a VFL match, beating Sean Wight who was also listed by Melbourne at the time.

On 4 February 2013, Earley was announced as the new manager of Ireland. His tenure with Ireland was reasonably successful - he is most noted for leading the country to record-breaking victories over Australia to win the 2013 International Rules Series title. He returned to the coaching role for the 2014 test match, though oversaw an Irish squad which fell 10 points short of a star-studded Australian team.