Jerry Flannery

Jerry Flannery

Full name	Jeremiah Paul Flannery
Date of birth	17 October 1978 (1978-10-17) (age 33)
Place of birth	Galway, Ireland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	100 kg
Nickname	Fla
School	St. Munchin's College
University	University College Cork
Notable relative(s)	Jerry Flannery(father)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Hooker
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2001-2003 2003-present	Connacht Munster	? 93	(?) (40)
correct as of 18 Jun 2011.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2005-present 2009	Ireland Lions	41 0	(15) (0)
correct as of 12 Sep 2011.

Jeremiah Paul "Jerry" Flannery (born 17 October 1978) is an Irish rugby union player who plays at Hooker for Munster and Ireland.

Early career

Although capped at Ireland Schools level while attending St Munchin's College Limerick, and with a fine underage pedigree, Flannery had to wait patiently for his opportunities, but made the most of those that eventually came his way.

He began his professional career with Connacht, where he spent two seasons vying for the hooker's jersey with Marnus Uijs.

Munster

Flannery then moved to Munster, where he initially found his opportunities severely restricted by the consistent form of Frankie Sheahan, a regular Ireland international. He did, however, make his Heineken Cup debut as a replacement against Stade Français at Thomond Park in the quarter final in April 2004, which Munster won 37–32. Following a serious neck injury to Sheahan in 2005, Flannery made the Munster Number 2 jersey his own. Voted Man-of-the-Match on his first try-scoring Heineken Cup start against Castres, Flannery's outstanding form and obvious ability to compete at the highest level meant that he was promptly called into the Ireland squad, and made his international debut against Romania in November 2005 where he came on as a replacement. He played a key part in Munster's Heineken Cup winning teams of 2005/06 and 2007/08. He missed the majority of the 2009/10 season through injury, playing only 6 matches, and has also missed much of the 2010/11 season, again through injury, featuring only against Toulon in October and Ulster in January so far. His most recent injury occurred during the Ulster game.

Ireland

By January 2006, Flannery was installed as Ireland's first-choice hooker, and played his first full international game against Italy in the RBS 6 Nations. He retained his place in the side that claimed the Triple crown in 2006, and was unanimously chosen as the Six Nations' best hooker of that season. Bedevilled by injury in late 2006, Flannery briefly lost his place in the Ireland side to Ulster's Rory Best. Flannery did, however, appear as a replacement in each of Ireland's Six Nations fixtures in 2007. Having toured Argentina with the shadow squad, he was also a try-scoring member of Ireland's 2007 Rugby World Cup squad in France, starting the games against France and Argentina. He was a member of the victorious Ireland team that won the 2009 Six Nations Championship and Grand Slam.^[1] Flannery was suspended for 8 weeks in 2008 for stamping on Julien Bonnaire; the penalty was subsequently reduced to 4 weeks, which allowed him to play in the 6 Nations tournament.^[2][3] In February 2010, Flannery was cited for "an alleged kick" on France wing Alexis Palisson during the 2010 Six Nations Championship defeat in Paris.^[4] He received a six-week ban which ruled him out of the remainder of the 2010 Six Nations.^[5]

Flannery missed the 2010 June Tests, the 2010 November Tests and the 2011 Six Nations through injury, but was selected in Ireland's preliminary squad for the 2011 World Cup warms-ups in August. He made his comeback against Scotland in the 2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up in August, and was selected in Ireland's 30-man squad for the World Cup. Despite coming through Ireland's four warm-up Tests in August and the first pool game against US Eagles in September, Flannery suffered a recurrence of the troublesome calf injury in training and was forced to with draw from Ireland's World Cup squad, being replaced by Damien Varley.^[6]

British and Irish Lions

On 21 April 2009, Flannery was named as a member of the British and Irish Lions for the 2009 tour to South Africa.^[7] On 21 May, however, he sustained an elbow injury during training which ruled him out of the tour.^[8]

References

1. ^ Roberts, Gareth (22 March 2009). "2009 Six Nations". BBC Sport. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/7954758.stm. Retrieved 23 March 2009. 
2. ^ Drabble, Joe (February 5, 2008). "Flannery to appeal charge". Sky Sports. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12332_3101230,00.html. Retrieved 16 February 2010. 
3. ^ "Flannery Has Suspension Reduced". 6 february 2008. http://www.irishrugby.ie/22_10967.php. Retrieved 16 February 2010. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Jerry Flannery cited over incident with Alexis Palisson". BBC Sport. 2010-02-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/8516604.stm. Retrieved 2010-02-15. 
5. ^ "Ireland's Jerry Flannery to appeal against six-week ban". BBC Sport. 2010-02-24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/8534615.stm. Retrieved 2010-02-24. 
6. ^ "Rugby World Cup 2011: Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery out of World Cup". BBC Sport. 14 September 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/14917076.stm. Retrieved 14 September 2011. 
7. ^ "British & Irish Lions tour squad announced". The British and Irish Lions official website. 21 April 2009. http://www.lionsrugby.com/7404.php. Retrieved 21 April 2009. 
8. ^ Thornley, Gerry (21 May 2009). "Flannery out of Lions tour". Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/rugby/2009/0521/1224247051790.html. Retrieved 21 May 2009. 

External links

• Munster profile
• IRFU profile
• ESPNscrum profile

Persondata
Name	Flannery, Jerry
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 October 1978
Place of birth	Galway, Ireland
Date of death
Place of death