Dean Clarke (born 29 March 1993) is an Irish professional footballer who most recently played for League of Ireland club, St Patrick's Athletic, where he spent two and a half seasons. He started his career with UCD, and had two seasons with Limerick, one either side of a year spent at Shamrock Rovers. Career Early career Growing up in Dundrum, South Dublin, Clarke played with local sides Greystones, Park Celtic and St. Joseph's Boys as well as being part of a very successful school side at Oatlands College which were both Leinster and All-Ireland school champions, where he played alongside James Kavanagh, who he would go on to play with later in his career. It was at St. Joseph's where Clarke was spotted by League of Ireland clubs and he trained with Bray Wanderers due to their partnership with St. Joseph's, but it was UCD manager Martin Russell, along with Kavanagh (who had just left Bray for UCD), who convinced Clarke to sign for the Students. Clarke earned a place on the College’s scholarship programme, studying Economics and Politics played with their Under 19's initially, where he impressed enough to be called up to the first team. UCD Clarke was first called up to the first team in September 2011, with his debut coming off the bench in a 3–0 win over Dundalk at the UCD Bowl. He played 2 more league games before the end of the 2011 season. UCD's 2012 season was Clarke's first full season in senior football and it saw him become a mainstay in the side, playing 20 league games. The first goal of his senior career came on 19 April 2013, when he scored in a 3–2 defeat away to Drogheda United. UCD had a good season that year finishing in a solid 9th place, with Clarke having a brilliant season personally, scoring 8 goals and missing just 3 of their 33 league games. 2014 was a huge disappointment for both UCD and Clarke however. Aaron Callaghan replaced Russell as manager but Callaghan never got to see the best of Clarke as he struggled badly with injuries throughout the entire season, playing just 6 league games and scoring once, as the Students were relegated from the League of Ireland Premier Division following an 11th place finish and a 5–1 aggregate defeat to Galway United in the Promotion/relegation playoff. Limerick Following UCD's relegation to the