Fr. Marnie Cunningham (23 June 1933 – 31 May 2000) was an Irish international rugby player and Catholic priest. He is one of only two priests to have played international rugby for Ireland (along with Monsignor Tom Gavin).

Background

Cunningham was born in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

on 23 June 1933 and educated at Presentation Brothers College in Cork City. He represented Presentation College at rugby and also represented Munster schools. He went on to study Civil Engineering at

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 ...

, graduating in 1956. He also played for the UCC rugby team and won the Munster Senior Cup with them in 1955. He was a member of a distinguished rugby family as his father (Jack) played for and captained

Cork Constitution The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the '' Cork Constitution'' newspaper. Since the paper did not publish on Sundays, the staff were lo ...

. His brother played for the Irish Province of

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

. Cunningham also played for the Irish Universities and the Barbarians

Rugby career

Cunningham played for the Ireland national rugby union team 7 times between 1955 and 1956. He played flanker / wing forward. He won his first international cap as a 21-year-old against France in January 1955. He was capped three times in 1956 and was a member of the Ireland side that scored an 11–3 victory over Wales at Lansdowne Road in March 1956, a win that deprived Wales of a Grand Slam. He scored a famous try in this match. This was his final game for Ireland. At the age of 22 he gave up international rugby to be ordained as a Catholic priest

Personal life

He served a priest in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford The Diocese of Salford () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church centred on the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. The diocese was founded in 1852 as one of the first post-Reformation Catholic dioceses in Great Britain. Since 191 ...

in England. While a priest he led a protest march outside

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Munster Rugby and has Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park from 2013 to 2015 in the Le ...

when Munster played against the apartheid-dominated

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

He died in Salford on 31 May 2000, after a long illness, just before his 67th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Marney 1933 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Irish rugby union players Munster Rugby players Musselburgh RFC players Ireland international rugby union players Rugby union players from County Cork Rugby union flankers People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork