Dave McSharry (born 10 July 1990 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) is a former professional

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 from

. He played primarily as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

, usually at inside centre. McSharry played for Irish provincial team

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

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

before he was forced to retire in 2016.

Connacht

McSharry joined

ahead of the 2011–12 season, having previously been in Leinster's Academy. McSharry made his debut for Connacht on 5 November 2011, starting against

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 the

2011–12 Pro12 The 2011–12 Pro12 League (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th season of the rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the second with its current 12-team format, and also the first w ...

and playing the full 80 minutes. McSharry made his European debut for the side with a start against Harlequins in the 2011–12 Heineken Cup on 11 November 2011, the province's first game in their first ever season in the competition. He made four more appearances in the competition, starting on each occasion. McSharry also made a total of nine appearances in the league that season, starting seven times and scoring one try. McSharry signed a contract extension in December 2011 that will see him remain with Connacht until at least 2014. The following season saw McSharry play regularly when fit, but he missed parts of the season through hip and groin injuries. McSharry played ten games in the

2012–13 Pro12 The 2012–13 Pro12 League (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th season of the rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the third with its current 12-team format, and the second with Ra ...

, starting all of the games he featured in, and scoring a try. In the 2012–13 Heineken Cup, McSharry played in and started all six of Connacht's games. He scored his first European try in the game with Harlequins on 20 October 2012. In 2013–14, McSharry suffered a slow start to the season due to a long recovery from hip surgery. He made his first appearance in a 2013–14 Heineken Cup game with

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

on 19 October 2013. McSharry played his first

2013–14 Pro12 The 2013–14 Pro12 (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of the Pro12 rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the fourth with its current 12-team format, and the third with Rab ...

game against

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

on 2 November 2013. McSharry started Connacht's game against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

in the Heineken Cup, with the province overcoming the four-time European champions in a famous victory. McSharry was forced into another spell of absence with an ankle injury in December 2013. At the end of the season McSharry had played a total of three Heineken Cup games, and made 11 league appearances, with a try against

. The

2014–15 Pro12 The 2014–15 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the fifth with its current four-country format. It was ...

saw McSharry play in 15 games, four of these appearances coming from the bench. He scored a single try, which came against Glasgow Warriors. At European level, McSharry played four times in the Challenge Cup, starting twice and scoring a try against Bayonne. He was forced to retire from Connacht due to concussion.

Ireland

McSharry has represented Ireland at under-age international level, playing for the Under-18 and Under-20 teams. On the back of his form for

, McSharry was named in the

training squad for the

2013 Six Nations Championship The 2013 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2013 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship ...

on 17 January 2013. McSharry was also named in squad of the second tier 'A' side the

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons, the national teams ...

, for their friendly against

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

on 25 January 2013.

References

External links

Pro12 ProfileEPCR Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McSharry, Dave 1990 births Living people Irish rugby union players Connacht Rugby players Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Alumni of University College Dublin Rugby union centres University College Dublin R.F.C. players