Donal Gerard Lenihan (born 12 September 1959) is a retired Irish

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 appears regularly as a co-commentator on TV and radio for rugby matches and writes for the Irish Examiner. He also works as a financial consultant in Cork. Lenihan was inducted into the Munster Rugby Hall of Fame in April 2019. He was inducted into the Rugby Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame in November 2013. He was adjudged Irish rugby’s ‘Player of the Decade’ for the 1980s by the

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

. Lenihan was elected President of Cork Constitution Rugby Club in 2020-2021.

Early life

Lenihan was raised in a sporting background. His father, Gerald Lenihan, was an All-Ireland heavyweight boxing champion and Gaelic footballer of distinction, and played in the same team as Jack Lynch. Donal attended primary school he attended Saint Patrick’s on Gardiner's Hill and afterwards went to

Christian Brothers College, Cork Christian Brothers College, Cork (CBC Cork, colloquially known as Christians) is a fee-paying school under the trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust in Cork, Ireland. Their sister school in Dublin is CBC Monkstown. History In the mid ...

. He captained his school to Munster Junior and Senior Schools titles and was also captained for Irish schools. He was a student at

UCC The initialism UCC may stand for: Law * Uniform civil code of India, referring to proposed Civil code in the legal system of India, which would apply equally to all irrespective of their religion * Uniform Commercial Code, a 1952 uniform act to ...

and played for the rugby team while studying there.

Rugby career

Lenihan played his first test match for Ireland on 21 November 1981 versus Australia at the age of 22. Famous for his aerial skills in the line-out, the second row was ever present in the Irish team for over a decade which saw two Triple Crowns and three

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

victories. It was his break off the back of a line-out that set up

Mike Kiernan Michael Joseph Kiernan (born 17 January 1961) is a former international rugby union player. He had 43 caps for Ireland, from 1982 to 1991, scoring 6 tries, 40 conversions, 62 penalties and 6 drop goals, in an aggregate of 308 points. He was cal ...

's championship clinching drop-goal against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1985. Lenihan played four matches in the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup where he was the Irish captain and played three matches in the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

. The Munsterman captained his country 17 times (3rd highest of the amateur era, 7th all-time). He was selected for three

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

tours -

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

(IRB Centenary Match),

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

- and captained the Lions on a number of occasions during their victorious tour of 1989. His 52nd and last Irish cap (6th highest of the amateur era) came against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 18 January 1992.

Manager

After retirement from playing rugby, he took over as manager of

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 ...

in 1998, alongside coach

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team. As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six N ...

. He stepped down as manager at the end of the 2000 season to take over management of the

for their 2001 tour to Australia with coach Sir

Graham Henry Sir Graham William Henry (born 8 June 1946) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Henry played rugby union for ...

Honours

University College Cork R.F.C.

* Munster Senior Cup: **Winner (1): 1980–81

Cork Constitution

* Munster Senior Cup: **Winner (3): 1982–83, 1984–85, 1988–89

Ireland

: **Winner (3): 1982,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

: ** Winner (2): 1982,

British and Irish Lions

*British and Irish Lions tours: **Tourist (2):

**IRB Centenary Match:

**Manager: 2001

References

External links

British and Irish Lions Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenihan, Donal 1959 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Cork Constitution players Ireland international rugby union players Irish rugby union coaches Irish rugby union players Munster Rugby players People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Cork (city) University College Cork RFC players