Donal Lenihan

Donal Lenihan
Personal information
Full name	Donal Lenihan
Born	(1959-09-12) 12 September 1959 Cork, Republic of Ireland
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 ½ in)
Weight	108 kg (17 st 0 lb, 238 lb)^[1]
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^[2]

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.^[3] 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.^[4] He resigned as manager at the end of the 2000 season^[5] to take over management of the British and Irish Lions for their 2001 tour.^[6] He appears regularly as a co-commentator on radio and TV for rugby matches and writes for the Irish 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

↑ http://www.lionsrugby.com/history/players.php?player=15377&includeref=dynamic
↑ Scally, John (1996). Giants of Irish Rugby. Mainstream Publishing Company. ISBN 1-85158-834-5.
↑ "History of the Lions New Zealand 1993". BBC News Web Site. 18 May 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
↑ "Former captain and ex-Lions player to take over as national rugby manager". Irish Examiner Web site.
↑ "Ireland's Lenihan to step down after visit of Wales". Independent News.
↑ "Brian O'Brien is the new Irish Manager". RTÉ Web Site.

Preceded by Pat Whelan	Irish national rugby manager 1998-2001	Succeeded by Brian O'Brien

Ireland squad – 1991 Rugby World Cup

Forwards	D. Fitzgerald Francis Halpin Hamilton Kingston Lenihan Mannion Matthews (c) Popplewell Smith Robinson

Backs	Aherne Clarke Crossan Cunningham Curtis Geoghegan Keyes Mullin Murphy Saunders Staples

Coach	Fitzgerald

British and Irish Lions – 1989 Australia tour

Forwards	Ackford Calder Chilcott Dooley Griffiths Jeffrey Lenihan Moore Norster Richards Robinson Smith Sole Teague White Young

Backs	Andrew Armstrong Chalmers Clement Dean Devereux Dods Evans Guscott Hall G. Hastings S. Hastings Jones Mullin Oti Underwood Carling (withdrew - injury)

Coach	McGeechan

Ireland squad – 1987 Rugby World Cup

Forwards	Anderson Carr (withdrew due to injury) Collins Fitzgerald Francis Glennon Kingston Langbroek Lenihan (c) Matthews MacDonald McCoy McGrath Orr Smith Spillane

Backs	Bradley Crossan Dean Doyle Irwin Kiernan MacNeill Mullin Rainey Ringland Ward

Coach	Doyle / Davidson

British and Irish Lions – 1986 IRFB Centenary Match vs The Rest

Forwards	Nigel Carr (Ire) John Beattie (Sco) John Jeffrey (Sco) Donal Lenihan (Ire) Wade Dooley (Eng) Des Fitzgerald (Ire) Colin Deans (Sco) (c) Jeff Whitefoot (Wal) Iain Paxton (Sco) (bench) Iain Milne (Sco) (bench)

Backs	Gavin Hastings (Sco) Trevor Ringland (Ire) Brendan Mullin (Ire) John Devereux (Wal) Rory Underwood (Eng) John Rutherford (Sco) Robert Jones (Wal) Malcolm Dacey (Wal) (bench) Richard Hill (Eng) (bench) Michael Kiernan (Ire) (bench) Steve Brain (Eng) (bench)

British and Irish Lions – 1983 New Zealand tour

Forwards	Bainbridge Beattie Boyle Butler Calder Colclough Deans Fitzgerald (c) Jeavons Jones Lenihan McLoughlin Milne Norster O'Driscoll Paxton Price Squire Stephens Winterbottom

Backs	Ackerman Baird Campbell Carleton Evans Hare Holmes Irwin Kiernan Laidlaw MacNeill Melville Ringland Rutherford Smith Woodward

Coach	Telfer

Ireland national rugby union team captains

To 1900	Feb 1875: G.H. Stack Dec 1875: R.J. Bell Feb 1877: R. Galbraith Feb 1877: W.H. Wilson Mar 1878: R.B. Walkington 1879: W.C. Neville 1880: H.C. Kelly 1881-Jan 1882: A.J. Forrest Feb 1882: J.W. Taylor 1883: G. Scriven Feb 1884: J.A. McDonald Mar 1884: D.F. Moore Feb 1885: W.G. Rutherford Mar 1885: A.J. Forrest Feb 1886: M. Johnston Feb 1886: J.P. Ross 1887: R.G. Warren Feb–Mar 1888: H.J. Neill Dec 1888–90: R.G. Warren Feb–Mar 1891: Dolway Walkington Mar 1891: R. Stevenson 1892: Victor Le Fanu 1893: S. Lee 1894: E.G. Forrest Feb 1895: J.H. O'Conor Mar 1895: C.V. Rooke Mar 1895: E.G. Forrest 1896: S. Lee 1897: E.G. Forrest Feb 1898: S. Lee Feb 1898: G.G. Allen Mar 1898: W. Gardiner 1899–1900: Louis Magee

To the First World War	1901: Louis Magee Feb 1902: J. Fulton Mar 1902: Louis Magee 1903–Feb 1904: Harry Corley Mar 1904–06: C.E. Allen Feb 1906: Alfred Tedford Feb 1906–07: C.E. Allen Feb 1908: Harry Thrift Feb–Mar 1908: James Parke Feb 1909: Fred Gardiner Mar 1909: George Hamlet Mar 1909: Fred Gardiner Feb 1910: George Hamlet Mar 1910: Tom Smyth Mar 1910–11: George Hamlet Jan 1912: Dickie Lloyd Feb 1912: Alexander Foster Feb 1912–Feb 1914: Dickie Lloyd Feb–Mar 1914: Alexander Foster

To the Second World War	Feb 1920: Dickie Lloyd Feb 1920: George Doherty Mar 1920: Thomas Wallace Apr 1920: Dickie Lloyd 1921: George Doherty Feb 1922: William Collopy Apr 1922–23: John Thompson Jan–Feb 1924: William Crawford Feb 1924: William Collopy Mar 1924–27: William Crawford 1928–Feb 1929: George Stephenson Feb 1929: Eugene Davy Mar 1929–30: George Stephenson 1931: Mark Sugden 1932: George Beamish Feb 1933: Eugene Davy Mar 1932: George Beamish Apr 1933: Eugene Davy 1934–36: Jack Siggins 1937–Feb 1938: George Morgan Mar 1938: Sam Walker 1939: George Morgan

To the Professional Era	Jan–Feb 1947: Con Murphy Feb–Mar 1947: Jack Monteith Dec 1947–Jan 1948: Ernest Strathdee Feb 1948–Mar 1951: Karl Mullen Dec 1951–Sep 1952: Des O'Brien Jan 1953–Jan 1954: Jack Kyle Feb–Mar 1954: Jim McCarthy Jan 1955: Robin Thompson Feb 1955: Jim McCarthy Feb–Mar 1955: Robin Thompson Jan–Feb 1956: James Ritchie Feb 1956–Apr 1958: Noel Henderson Feb–Apr 1959: Ronnie Dawson Feb–Mar 1960: Andy Mulligan Apr 1960–May 1961: Ronnie Dawson Feb–Nov 1962: Bill Mulcahy Jan 1963: Tom Kiernan Feb–Mar 1963: Bill Mulcahy Dec 1963: James Kelly Feb–Mar 1964: Bill Mulcahy Jan 1965–Feb 1966: Ray McLoughlin Mar 1966: Tom Kiernan Jan–Apr 1967: Noel Murphy May 1967–Jan 1971: Tom Kiernan Feb–Mar 1971: Mike Gibson Jan 1972–Feb 1973: Tom Kiernan Mar 1973–Mar 1975: Willie John McBride Jan–Feb 1976: Mike Gibson Feb 1976–Mar 1977: Tom Grace Jan–Mar 1978: John Moloney Nov 1978–Nov 1981: Fergus Slattery Jan 1982–Feb 1984: Ciaran Fitzgerald Feb–Mar 1984: Willie Duggan Nov 1984–Mar 1986: Ciaran Fitzgerald Nov 1986–Apr 1988: Donal Lenihan Oct 1988–Mar 1989: Phillip Matthews Nov 1989–Feb 1990: Willie Anderson Mar–Oct 1990: Donal Lenihan Feb–Mar 1991: Rob Saunders July 1991: Phillip Matthews July 1991: Rob Saunders Oct 1991–Feb 1992: Phillip Matthews Oct 1991: Terry Kingston Mar–May 1992: Phil Danaher Jun 1992: Michael Bradley Oct 1992: Phil Danaher Jan 1993–Nov 1994: Michael Bradley Jan 1995: Brendan Mullin Feb–Mar 1995: Michael Bradley Mar–May 1995: Terry Kingston May 1995: Nick Popplewell Jun 1995: Terry Kingston

To the Present Day	Nov 1995–Feb 1996: Jim Staples Mar–Nov 1996: Niall Hogan Nov 1996–Jan 1997: Keith Wood Feb–Mar 1997: Jim Staples Nov 1997: Keith Wood Nov 1997: Nick Popplewell Dec 1997–Apr 1998: Keith Wood Jun 1998–Apr 1999: Paddy Johns Jun–Oct 1999: Dion O'Cuinneagain 2000–Feb 2001: Keith Wood Jun 2001: Mick Galwey Sep–Oct 2001: Keith Wood Nov 2001: Anthony Foley Nov 2001: Keith Wood Feb–Mar 2002: Mick Galwey Mar 2002: David Humphreys Apr–Jun 2002: Keith Wood Sep 2002: Anthony Foley Sep 2002: Keith Wood Sep 2002: Anthony Foley Nov 2002–Mar 2003: Brian O'Driscoll Jun 2003: David Humphreys Jun 2003: Reggie Corrigan Aug 2003: Keith Wood Aug 2003: Brian O'Driscoll Sep–Nov 2003: Keith Wood Feb 2004: Paul O'Connell Feb 2004– Feb 2005: Brian O'Driscoll Feb 2005: Paul O'Connell Feb–Mar 2005: Brian O'Driscoll Jun 2005: David Humphreys Nov 2005: Simon Easterby Nov 2005: David Humphreys 2006–Feb 2007: Brian O'Driscoll Feb 2007: Paul O'Connell Feb–Mar 2007: Brian O'Driscoll May–Jun 2007: Simon Best Aug 2007: Brian O'Driscoll Aug 2007: Paul O'Connell Sep 2007–Mar 2008: Brian O'Driscoll Mar 2008: Ronan O'Gara Jun 2008–Mar 2009: Brian O'Driscoll May 2009: Rory Best Nov 2009–Mar 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Aug 2011: Leo Cullen Aug 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Aug 2011: Paul O'Connell Sep 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Sep 2011: Leo Cullen Oct 2011: Brian O'Driscoll Feb 2012–Mar 2012: Paul O'Connell Mar 2012: Rory Best Jun 2012: Brian O'Driscoll Nov 2012–Mar 2013: Jamie Heaslip Jun 2013: Peter O'Mahony Nov 2013: Jamie Heaslip Nov 2013: Paul O'Connell Feb 2014: Jamie Heaslip Feb–Nov 2014: Paul O'Connell Nov 2014: Eoin Reddan Nov 2014–Mar 2015: Paul O'Connell Aug 2015: Jamie Heaslip Aug 2015: Seán O'Brien Aug–Sep 2015: Paul O'Connell Sep 2015: Jamie Heaslip Oct 2015: Paul O'Connell Oct 2015: Jamie Heaslip Feb 2016– : Rory Best

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