James Shane Byrne (born 18 July 1971) is a former Irish

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 ...

hooker. He is nicknamed 'Munch' or 'Mullet' (a reference to his hair style). A native of

Aughrim, County Wicklow Aughrim (; ) is a small town in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies in a scenic valley in the Wicklow Mountains in the east of Ireland where the Ow and Derry rivers meet to form the Aughrim River. Aughrim is on the R747 road between Arklow and ...

, Byrne played

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 ...

up to under-16 level with the local Aughrim club.Hoganstand.com – GAA Football & Hurling
/ref> He attended

Blackrock College Blackrock College () is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 1860 as a school and later became al ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Career

He plied his trade for many years at

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 ...

. His international career started comparatively late and did not blossom until the retirement of

Keith Wood Keith Wood (born 27 January 1972) is an Irish former rugby union player who played as a hooker at international level for Ireland, and the British & Irish Lions. He also played at club level for Garryowen, Harlequins and Munster. He was n ...

. When he eventually got his chance in a World Cup qualifier in Romania in 2001 he took it and thereafter became a fixture in the national side where he won 41 caps between 2001 and 2005, scoring three tries. In February 2003 Byrne played his 100th game for Leinster. In 2005 he was selected for the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and played in the first and third tests. Byrne has scored a total of three tries for his country, scoring two of those in one match against Wales during the 2004 Six Nations series. Following the Lions tour his contract talks with

were inconclusive and he joined

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

in the summer of 2005 for two years, before returning to Ireland.

Personal life

Byrne participated in a

Charity You're A Star ''Charity You're a Star'' (initially known as ''You're a Star Charity Special'') is a talent contest created by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), in which various Irish celebrities sang to raise money for the Charitable organization, charity o ...

edition on RTÉ in the Helix, DCU. His chosen charity was GOAL, an Irish founded charity group. In June 2008, Byrne revived his

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

career with the local Aughrim club after a 17-year lapse, lining out at centre-back in a Wicklow junior 'C' league game against Coolkenno. His switch to the full-forward position did not stop Aughrim from crashing to a heavy defeat. In June 2010, Byrne announced his involvement in ''RuckingBall.com'', an online community for the development of school-boy rugby, coaches and parents. In April 2012, Byrne participated in an episode of Celebrity Come Dine With Me Ireland. In June 2014, Shane made his acting debut with the release of ''

Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie ''Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie'' is a 2014 comedy film based on the sitcom ''Mrs. Brown's Boys'' and is co-produced by That's Nice Films, Penalty Kick Films, RTÉ and BocFlix. BBC Films is acting as Sales agents, sales agent and it was distributed ...

''. Byrne is a director with Arklow Waste Disposal, his family business. He is also head of operations for Focus International Property. Byrne has been a captain on the sports quiz show ''

Know The Score ''Know The Score'' was an Irish sports quiz show produced by RTÉ which started airing on 6 November 2016 on RTÉ One. The show was presented by Jacqui Hurley with team captains Ruby Walsh Rupert "Ruby" Walsh (born 14 May 1979) is an Irish f ...

'' since November 2016. He is married to Caroline (a native of County Monaghan) and has twin girls Alex and Kerry. Byrne is the grandson of deafblind doctor

James Hanlon James Hanlon (born November 12, 1966) is an American actor and director; he also served as a New York City firefighter. He executive produced and directed the CBS documentary film ''9/11''. Early life and education Hanlon was born in the South ...

. His daughter Kerry represented Wicklow at the 2024 Rose of Tralee International Festival.

References

External links

ESPN Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Shane 1971 births Living people Aughrim Gaelic footballers Blackrock College RFC players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Gaelic footballers who switched code Ireland international rugby union players Irish rugby union players Leinster Rugby players Saracens F.C. players People educated at Blackrock College Rugby union players from County Wicklow Rugby union hookers 2003 Rugby World Cup players