Ronan (Ronnie) McCormack (born 27 April 1977) is an Irish former professional

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 loosehead prop for

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and

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 ...

. He attended

St Mary's College, Dublin St Mary's College C.S.Sp. (Congregatio Sancti Spiritus) is a voluntary secondary school, voluntary boys' primary and secondary school run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, Congregation of the Holy Spirit and located in Rathmines, Dublin, Republic of Ire ...

, with whom he won the

Leinster Schools Junior Cup The Leinster Schools Junior Challenge Cup is an under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Leinster Rugby, Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU. Background The Leinster Schools Junior Cup competition is ...

in 1992, and the Senior Cup in 1994."Where are they now?: Ronan McCormack"
Leinster Rugby, 24 March 2021 He represented Leinster Schools three times, and Ireland Schools four times.Beatrice Asprey
"Fogarty and McCormack retire"
Rugby World, 8 November 2010 On leaving school, he tried out for the Ireland Foundation, a centrally-run pathway to the professional game, but failed to get a place. He played club rugby with

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

in the All-Ireland League, and represented Ireland Universities twelve times. In 2000 he signed professionally for Connacht. He made 26 appearances in two seasons, during which he was selected for Ireland 'A', winning nine caps."Fogarty and McCormack call it a day"
''Irish Examiner'', 7 November 2010 In 2003 he moved to Ulster, replacing Justin Fitzpatrick who had signed for

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...

,"Ulster sign Connacht duo"
BBC Sport, 23 April 2003 which gave him the opportunity to play in the

Heineken 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 pre ...

. He played there for two seasons, making 37 appearances, and was called up to the

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 ...

squad for the

2005 Six Nations Championship The 2005 Six Nations Championship was the sixth Six Nations Championship played since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy national rugby union team, Italy. Including the Home Nations and Five Nations Championships, this was the 111th ...

. In 2005 he signed for his home province of Leinster, with whom he won the

and the

Magners League 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 ...

. His time at Leinster was marred by injury. In late 2006 he played for a combined Leinster/Ulster team against Connacht/Munster in "The Last Stand", an exhibition game at the old

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

stadium before it was demolished, and sustained a neck injury. He sustained a more serious injury to his shoulder on his return to action for Leinster against

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in February 2007, which needed two operations and kept him out for a year. In the 2008-09 season he injured his neck in a warm-up. He retired in 2010, having made 52 appearances and scored three tries for the province. He studied for a Masters in Sports Management, and moved into the residential property business. As of 2021, he was Managing Director of Grayling Property Management.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormack, Ronan 1977 births Irish rugby union players Connacht Rugby players Ulster Rugby players Leinster Rugby players St Mary's College RFC players University College Dublin R.F.C. players Alumni of University College Dublin Living people People educated at St Mary's College, Dublin Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Rugby union props