Donal Lenihan

Donal Lenihan

Personal information
Full name	Donal Lenihan
Born	September 12, 1959 (1959-09-12) (age 52) Cork, Republic of Ireland
Playing information
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
	University College Cork
	Cork Constitution
	Munster Rugby
	Total	0	0	0	0	0
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1981–1992	Ireland	52	1			4

Donal Gerard Lenihan (born in Cork on 12 September 1959) is a retired Irish rugby union player with 52 international caps.

Biography

Donal was raised in a sporting background. His father, Gerald Lenihan, was an All-Ireland heavyweight boxing champion and Gaelic footballer of distinction, and played in the same team as Jack Lynch. Donal attended second level school in Christian Brothers College, Cork. He captained his school to Munster Junior and Senior Schools titles and was also captained for Irish schools^[1]

He was a student at UCC and played for the rugby team while studying there.

Lenihan played his first test match for Ireland on 21 November 1981 versus Australia at the age of 22. Famous for his aerial skills in the line-out, the hard-nosed second row was ever present in the Irish team for over a decade which saw two Triple Crowns and three 5 Nations Championships victories. He is best remembered for his break which set up Mike Kiernan's championship clinching drop-goal against England in 1985.

He played four matches in the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup where he was the Irish captain and played three matches in the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Lenihan, a proud Munsterman, captained his country 17 times. He was selected for three Lions Tours (1983, 1986, 1989) and was the popular captain of the unbeaten 1989 midweek side that became known as Donal's Donuts.^[2] His last cap came against Wales on 18 January 1992.

Post Playing Career

After retirement from rugby he took over as manager of Ireland in 1998 after the resignation of Pat Whelan.^[3] He resigned as manager at the end of the 2000 season^[4] to take over management of the British and Irish Lions for their 2001 tour.^[5] He appears regularly as a co-commentator on radio and TV for rugby matches and writes for the Examiner. He works as a financial consultant in Cork.

Career statistics

• Five Nations Tournaments: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992
• Rugby World Cups: 1987, 1991
• Lions Tours: 1983, 1986 (cancelled), 1989

References

1. ^ Scally, John (1996). Giants of Irish Rugby. Mainstream Publishing Company. ISBN 1 85158 834 5. 
2. ^ "History of the Lions New Zealand 1993". BBC News Web Site. 18 May 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/4428339.stm. Retrieved 1 May 2010. 
3. ^ "Former captain and ex-Lions player to take over as national rugby manager". Irish Examiner Web site. http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1998/04/23/shead.htm. 
4. ^ "Ireland's Lenihan to step down after visit of Wales". Independent News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000331/ai_n14288091. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Brian O'Brien is the new Irish Manager". RTÉ Web Site. http://www.rte.ie/sport/2000/0428/rugby.html. 

Preceded by Pat Whelan

Irish national rugby manager 1998-2001

Succeeded by Brian O'Brien

Persondata
Name	Lenihan, Donal
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	12 September 1959
Place of birth	Cork
Date of death
Place of death