Quick Facts
Biography
Michael Quinn (born in County Longford, Ireland) is a Gaelic footballer and former professional Australian rules footballer with Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Quinn is notable as holding the record for the quickest conversion of a former GAA player to play in the AFL, taking the record from Martin Clarke and having made his AFL debut just weeks after arriving in Australia.
Early life
Quinn grew up in Killoe, County Longford in Ireland. He played underage Gaelic football with the Killoe Young Emmets Gaa Club, and made his Club Senior Championship debut in 2008, where he helped his club reach the Longford Senior Championship semi final. In addition he also played for the Longford minor team in the Leinster Minor Championship in the same year, reaching the Leinster semi final.
In August 2008, Quinn arrived in Melbourne for a two-week trial with Essendon. After impressing talent scouts he returned to Ireland but was invited to return to Australia in November to be signed as an international rookie on 16 November.
AFL career
Initially expected to be groomed through the Victorian Football League affiliate the Bendigo Bombers, Quinn showed prodigious progress with the oval ball, with a standout performance in an early intra-club match. After the match, Matthew Knights insisted on Quinn training with the senior side. His form saw him selected into the Essendon side for the 2009 NAB Cup in a match initially scheduled to be played in Darwin, Northern Territory but was moved to Melbourne to become a tribute match for the Black Saturday bushfires. Quinn's Australian host family had already made travel plans and took him to Darwin in the run up to his debut match.
There he impressed enough with his pace, evasive skills and ability to earn possessions to be elevated to the senior list in place of injured Scott Gumbleton on 2 April and selected in the senior side for round 2 of the premiership season.
His debut was considered a standout for an Irish convert by football and media commentators, racking up 20 possessions, including 8 kicks, 12 handballs and 4 marks. Former Irish Australian rules footballer Jim Stynes described the debut as "phenomenal" and that he believed that Quinn will "hopefully have a long career" in the AFL.
Return to Ireland
In 2012 Quinn returned to Ireland and joined up with the Longford intercounty team. Having won the Div 4 title in 2011 Longford played in Div 3 and went on to win a second league title in a row with a win over Wexford in the final with Quinn playing at centre back. Also on return, 2012, won a Longford county championship.