Seán Cronin (born 6 May 1986) is a former Irish rugby union player who played as a hooker for

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 ...

in the

United Rugby Championship 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 ...

. He also played for 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 ...

Youth

Cronin was educated at Ardscoil Rís in Limerick. He previously played with Shannon and

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby () is one of the professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union, ...

, where he had progressed through their academy to a development contract. Cronin's rugby career began to take off while playing in the All-Ireland League for Shannon. Before becoming a professional rugby player, Cronin played minor

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 ...

with

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 ...

in 2004. He also won a

Limerick Senior Football Championship The Limerick Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top Limerick GAA clubs. The champions qualify to represent Limerick in the Munster Senior Club Football Championship, the winners of which progre ...

medal with Monaleen in 2005.

Professional

Outings for Ireland A and two

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 ...

appearances for his home province of Munster saw Cronin attract the attention of

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 ...

who offered him a full contract in the summer of 2008. In January 2011 it was announced that Cronin would join

on a 2-year contract for the 2011–12 season, after 3 seasons at Connacht. Cronin retired at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Ireland

Cronin represented Ireland in rugby at Ireland Schools, U19, U21, and A (

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 ...

) levels. Cronin earned his first cap against Fiji in November 2009. His second cap came as a replacement for

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player who was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC. Best earned 124 caps for Irelan ...

during the Ireland v Wales Six Nations game in March 2010. He won his first start against New Zealand in the 2010 summer tests and also started against Australia. On 10 March 2018 Cronin scored a try in Ireland's 28–8 win over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The win clinched the

2018 Six Nations The 2018 Six Nations Championship (known as the Natwest 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 19th Six Nations Championship, the annual international rugby union tournament for the six major European rugby union nations. The championship wa ...

title for Ireland. While a mainstay of the Irish team for several years, Cronin started in only 10 of his 72 tests for Ireland. He made his first 6 Nations start in 2019 against Italy, his 32 previous 6 Nations appearances having come as a substitute.

References

External links

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Leinster profileIreland profilePro14 profile
* * 1986 births Living people People educated at Ardscoil Rís, Limerick Alumni of Griffith College Limerick inter-county Gaelic footballers Monaleen Gaelic footballers Rugby union players from Limerick (city) Shannon RFC players Munster Rugby players Connacht Rugby players Leinster Rugby players Ireland international rugby union players Rugby union hookers 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub