Alan Quinlan (''Irish: Ailín Ó Caoindealbhain'', born 13 July 1974) is a retired

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. He played for Munster and was registered to All-Ireland League side Shannon. He retired from rugby in May 2011.

Early years

Quinlan was educated at

Abbey CBS The Abbey School (formerly Abbey CBS) is a Christian Brothers Secondary School in the town of Tipperary, County Tipperary, Ireland. The Abbey is an all-boys school and has about 412 students. In recent years the school has been extended twice ...

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

and worked for a motor dealer after leaving school. He began his rugby career with Clanwilliam FC. Quinlan moved from Clanwilliam to join Shannon U20s in 1994. He captained the Irish Youth Team against Scotland in 1993. He normally played as a blindside flanker, but he also played openside, number eight and second row for Munster.

Munster

Quinlan began playing for Munster in 1996 and captained the youths team before becoming a regular in the first team. In May 2006 he made a comeback from a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury earlier in the season to win both the AIB League Division 1 title with Shannon and the Heineken Cup with Munster after a late appearance from the bench in the Heineken Cup Final win over Biarritz in Cardiff. He captained the side from Number Eight in Munster's upset victory over

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

in Ravenhill in the 2007

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, 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 part ...

. Quinlan was voted Man of the Match as Munster beat Toulouse 16–13 on 24 May 2008 to win the Heineken Cup for a second time. He was part of the squad that won the 2008–09

. In total he holds five league medals with Shannon, as well as two Heineken Cup medals and a

Medal with Munster. Quinlan won his 201st cap against Leinster, equalling Anthony Foley's club record for caps, on 2 October 2010. He became Munster's most capped player ever on 16 October 2010, against

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

in the Heineken Cup. In the 2009–10 season he represented Munster 21 times, including all eight of their 2010 Heineken Cup matches. In April 2011, Quinlan officially announced his retirement from professional rugby, to be effective at the end of the 2010/11 season. He played his last game for Munster on 6 May 2011, against

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

in the

, scoring a try to mark the end of his remarkable career and going off to a standing ovation from the Munster and Connacht supporters. He joined the Munster team at the

2011 Celtic League Grand Final The 2010-11 Celtic League Grand Final was the final match of the 2010–11 Celtic League season. The final was won by Munster who defeated Leinster by 19–9 at Thomond Park to claim their third Celtic League title. Background and Build Up 2010 ...

trophy presentation, celebrating Munster's 19–9 victory over old rivals Leinster in

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

Ireland

Quinlan represented Ireland 'A' between 1998 and 2001 and made his senior debut for the Irish national team in October 1999, as a replacement in a test against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. He played his first Six Nations match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 2001. He was a part of Ireland's squad at the 2003 World Cup in Australia and scored two tries in the tournament before dislocating his shoulder scoring a vital try against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the pool stages, which ended his involvement. He was named in Ireland's 2007 World Cup squad but did not make any appearances. Ireland coach

Eddie O'Sullivan Eddie O'Sullivan (born 21 November 1958) is an Irish rugby union coach, player (wing & fly-half) and a former Gaelic footballer. He is a former head coach of the United States national rugby union team and of the Ireland national rugby union ...

was widely criticised afterwards for not using his bench. Quinlan took his caps to a total of 27 by playing in the Autumn Internationals of 2008 against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

British & Irish Lions

On 21 April 2009, Quinlan was named in the squad for the 2009 Lions tour of South Africa. During Munsters Heineken cup semi-final defeat to

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

in May 2009, Quinlan was cited for making contact with the eye or eye area of Leinster captain Leo Cullen. The offence was deemed at the low range of seriousness and he received a 12 playing week ban until 9 September 2009. As a result, he missed the Lions tour to South Africa.

Post-retirement

Quinlan was a co-commentator for ITV's coverage of the 2011 World Cup. He regularly commentates with RTÉ and

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

on their rugby coverage.

Personal life

Quinlan married Irish model Ruth Griffin in

town during the summer of 2008. They have one son named AJ who was born in January 2009. They later split up in June 2010. He released an autobiography, entitled 'Quinlan: Red Blooded', in 2010. Quinlan is a big golf fan and supports

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Statistics

International analysis by opposition

Correct as of 5 July 2017Stats – Alan Quinlan
''ESPN Scrum'', 5 July 2017

References

External links

Munster ProfileIreland ProfilePro14 Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinlan, Alan 1974 births Living people People educated at The Abbey School (Tipperary) Rugby union players from County Tipperary People from Tipperary (town) Irish rugby union players Munster Rugby players Shannon RFC players Ireland international rugby union players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights