Dave Kearney (born 19 June 1989), is an Irish former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played wing and fullback for Lansdowne,

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He attended

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a Catholic voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814. It features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel '' A Portrait of the Artist ...

. Kearney's older brother, Rob, formerly started at fullback for Leinster and the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champio ...

. Kearney is a seventh cousin of former U.S. President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

Career

Leinster

Kearney played his first match for Leinster on 16 May 2009 against the Newport Dragons entering the match as a substitute. He scored his first try in a Leinster jersey playing against the Newport Gwent Dragons in December of the 2009–10 season, one of three matches he played that season. In Kearney's third season with Leinster he scored four tries in 13

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

matches during the 2010–11 season. On 12 March 2021 Kearney scored a hat-trick in a win against Zebre in the Pro14, bringing his try tally for Leinster over 50 to 51. Following a strong season in the Championship, Kearney was named to his first Pro14 Dream Team following the 2020–21 campaign. In May 2023 Kearney announced that he would leave Leinster at the end of the season following 14 years at the province.

Ireland

Kearney has 17 caps for the Ireland U-20 team, and 2 caps for

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (also known as Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. History The Wolfounds previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Sax ...

. In his second match for the Wolfhounds he scored a try against England Saxons on 28 January 2012. Kearney has 19 caps for the senior Ireland team, making his debut against Samoa, when he came on as a substitute and scored two tries. He played in every match in the

2014 Six Nations Championship The 2014 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2014 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 15th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship ...

when Ireland won their 12th Championship title, being one of only 3 players to play the full 80 minutes in every game, along with his brother Rob, and

Jamie Heaslip James Heaslip (born 15 December 1983) is an Irish people, Irish former rugby union player who represented Leinster Rugby, Leinster, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions. He played as a Number 8 (rugby union), ...

Honours

Leinster *

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

(3):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

(6):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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 ...

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

(1):

Ireland *

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

(1):

Individual *Pro14 Dream Team of the Year (1):

References

External links

ESPN ProfileLeinster ProfileIreland ProfilePro14 Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kearney, Dave 1989 births Living people Rugby union wings Leinster Rugby players Irish rugby union players People educated at Clongowes Wood College Ireland international rugby union players Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Rugby union players from County Louth Lansdowne Football Club players 2015 Rugby World Cup players Chicago Hounds (rugby union) players Irish expatriate rugby union players in the United States