Education
McCloskey attended Bangor Grammar School as a youth before proceeding to the Ulster academy, and made his breakthrough into the Ulster Rugby first team in the 2013-2014 season.
McCloskey attended Bangor Grammar School as a youth before proceeding to the Ulster academy, and made his breakthrough into the Ulster Rugby first team in the 2013-2014 season.
His position of choice is centre. Big and imposing (6 ft 4in in height and 107 kg, nearly 17 stone, in weight), he has the build of a modern centre. He played for Emerging Ireland (effectively the third XV of the Irish rugby team) at the 2014 Institutional Review Board Nations Cup.
McCloskey received his first call up to the senior Ireland squad by coach Joe Schmidt on 20 January 2016 for the 2016 Six Nations Championship.
On 25 February 2016 he was included in the Ireland starting 15 for the first time, as a replacement for the injured Jared Payne.