D. J. Carey

His aunt, Peggy Carey, won four All-Ireland camogie titles with Kilkenny and his granduncle, Paddy Phelan, was an inter-county hurler of the 1930s and was selected on the GAA Hurling Team of the Century and the GAA Team of The Millennium.

Carey's private life, involving his wife and two children, had long been the subject of intense media scrutiny and rumour.

Denis Joseph Carey (born 11 November 1970) is an Irish former hurler who played as a left wing-forward at senior level for the Kilkenny county team.

Carey began his hurling career at club level with Young Irelands.

Denis Joseph Carey was born in Kilkenny, in 1970.

He was born into a large family, with three brothers and three sisters.

One of his sisters, Catriona Carey, was a member of the Ireland women's national field hockey team, as well as being part of the Kilkenny senior camogie team.

His brother, Martin Carey, was also a member of the Kilkenny hurling panel as a substitute goalkeeper for a number of years.

Several members of Carey's extended family have also played hurling and camogie.

He broke onto the club's top adult team as a 17-year-old in 1988 and enjoyed his first success in 1992 when the club won the Kilkenny Intermediate Championship title and promotion to the top flight of Kilkenny hurling.

At inter-county level, Carey was part of the successful Kilkenny minor team that won the All-Ireland Championship in 1988 before later the All-Ireland Championships with the under-21 team in 1990.

He joined the Kilkenny senior team in 1988.

During that time he was part of five All-Ireland Championship-winning teams – in 1992, 1993, 2000, 2002 and 2003.

Carey also secured ten Leinster Championship medals and four National Hurling League medals.

Carey later won Kilkenny Senior Championship medals as captain in 1996 and 2002.

He has been repeatedly voted onto teams made up of the sport's greats, including on the Kilkenny Hurling Team of the Century in 2000 and on a special Leinster Hurling Team (1984-2009).

Carey's omission from the Hurling Team of the Millennium was seen as controversial at the time.

In retirement from playing, he became involved in team management and coaching.

At club level he has trained the Young Irelands junior hurling team, while he has also served as hurling coach at Carlow Institute of Technology.

Carey's business and personal life has also been the subject of significant coverage.

News of the breakdown of his seven-year marriage hit the headlines shortly before the All-Ireland final in 2003 although Carey and his wife had been separated for more than a year.

A year later Carey spoke for the first time about the marriage break-down and of finding new love with British-born millionaire Sarah Newman.

Carey and Newman, who is also a celebrity and television personality, have since separated.

Carey began a number of business ventures after retiring, including D.J. Carey Enterprises.

Based in his home village of Gowran, it was a wholesale company selling hygiene products to other businesses.

From his debut, Carey was ever-present as a forward and made a combined total of 138 National League and Championship appearances in a career that ended with his last game in 2005.

He announced his retirement from inter-county hurling on 1 June 2006.

Carey's granduncle, Paddy Phelan, won four All-Ireland medals with Kilkenny.

His aunt, Peggy Carey, won four All-Ireland medal with the Kilkenny camogie team.

Carey's brother, Martin, was sub goalkeeper on the Kilkenny team for a number of years.

Carey has been described as "GAA's first superstar" and a "hurling legend".

During his playing days he won nine All-Star awards, as well as being named Texaco Hurler of the Year on two occasions.

His former partner Sarah Newman, who was a director of DJ Carey Enterprises, called in the auditors in 2012, and a series of discrepancies were found.

Around this time, two of his other businesses collapsed with major losses to creditors.

He made numerous championship appearances in three different grades of hurling for the club before retiring after a 25-year club career in 2013.

D.J. Carey Enterprises was dissolved in 2016.

In 2017, Carey's debts of over €9.5m were written down to €60,000.

In 2017, Allied Irish Banks (AIB) reportedly agreed to write-down a €9.5 million debt associated with Carey.

AIB, which was majority state-owned at the time, was asked to speak to an Oireachtas committee about the arrangement in early 2023.

Bank transfers, made to Carey in 2020 by his sister Caitriona (who had previously worked at the same business), were also reputedly the subject of "Garda scrutiny" in early 2023.