Billy Hennessy (born 15 August 1997) is an Irish hurler who plays as a left wing-back for club side St Finbarr's and at senior level with the Cork county team. He usually lines out as a left wing-back. He is the current captain of the St. Finbarr's premier senior hurling team. He captained St. Finbarr's to a Premier Senior hurling county final win in 2022.

Playing career

Christian Brothers College

Hennessy first came to prominence as a hurler with Christian Brothers College, a school noted as a

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stronghold. Having played hurling in every grade of hurling during his time at the school, he usually lined out in the half-back line on the school's senior team. On 14 October 2015, Hennessy was at right wing-back on the CBC team that recorded a first victory in the

Dr Harty Cup The Dr. Harty Cup is an annual inter-schools hurling competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster PPS GAA division of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It has been contested every year, except on three occasions, since 1918. As the pin ...

in 97 years.

St Finbarr's

Hennessy joined the St Finbarr's club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels as a

dual player Dual player or dual star is a term used in Hiberno-English to describe someone who competes in multiple sports — for example, in Victorian Ireland, cricket and hurling. The term today in Gaelic games typically describes a male player who plays ...

of hurling and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

. On 28 September 2015, Hennessy was at full-back when the St Finbarr's minor football team defeated

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by 1-09 to 0-08 in the final to win a fifth Premier 1 MFC title in nine years. Hennessy subsequently progressed onto the St Finbarr's under-21 football team. On 6 August 2016, he was at left corner-back on the under-21 team that defeated

Ilen Rovers Ilen Rovers is a Gaelic football club in County Cork, Ireland. The club is affiliated to Cork GAA and Carbery GAA divisional boards. Ilen Rovers is located in a rural community that is located on the River Ilen, the river that flows through Sk ...

by 1-12 to 0-07 to win the Cork Under-21 Championship title.

Cork

Minor and under-21

Hennessy first played for Cork at minor level during the 2015 Munster Championship. He made his only appearance in the grade on 2 July when he came on as a 53rd-minute substitute for John Looney in a 1-14 to 0-14 defeat by

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

. Hennessy subsequently progressed onto the Cork under-21 team. He made his first appearance on 13 July 2017 when he played at left wing-back in a 2-17 to 1-19 Munster semi-final defeat of

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. Hennessy was dropped from the starting fifteen for Cork's subsequent 0-16 to 1-11 defeat by Limerick on 26 July 2017. Hennessy won a Munster Championship medal on 4 July 2018 when he lined out at right wing-back in Cork's 2-23 to 1-13 defeat of Tipperary in the final. On 26 August, he was switched to left wing-back in Cork's 3-13 to 1-16 All-Ireland final defeat by Tipperary in what was his last game in the grade. Hennessy was later named at left wing-back on the Team of the Year.

Senior

Hennessy made his first appearance for the Cork senior hurling team in the pre-season Canon O'Brien Cup on 6 January 2017. He scored a point from midfield in the 0-22 to 1-13 defeat by

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

. On 15 January, Hennessy also scored a point after being introduced as a 62nd-minute substitute in Cork's 7-22 to 1-19 defeat of

in the Munster Hurling League. He played no further role in Cork's

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

campaigns. Hennessy was a late addition to the Cork senior team during the 2018 All-Ireland Championship. On 29 July, he was an unused substitute when Cork suffered a 3-32 to 2-21 extra-time defeat by Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final. Hennessy was ruled out of the start of the 2019 season as he was recuperating after an operation.

Career statistics

Club

Inter-county

Honours

;St. Finbarr's *

Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship The Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PSHC) is an annual club hurling competition organised by the Cork GAA, Cork ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Cork Premier Senior Football Championship The Cork Premier Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the McCarthy Insurance Group Cork Premier Senior Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PSFC) is an annual club Gaelic football competition organised by t ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Cork Under-21 Football Championship The Cork Under-21 Football Championship is a Gaelic football competition in County Cork, Ireland for players under the age of 21. Clubs affiliated to Cork board compete to win this championship. All eight of the divisions in Cork organize the ...

: 2016 *Seandún Under-21 Football Championship: 2016, 2017, 2018 *Cork Premier 1 Minor Football Championship: 2015 ;Cork *

Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-c ...

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References

External links

Billy Hennessy profile
at the Cork GAA website {{DEFAULTSORT:Hennessy, Billy 1997 births Living people St Finbarr's hurlers St Finbarr's Gaelic footballers Cork inter-county hurlers Cork inter-county Gaelic footballers Hurling backs Dual players People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork 21st-century Irish sportsmen