Kevin O'Byrne (born 16 April 1991) is an 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 its m ...

player for English club

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the current champions of the RFU Championship but will remain in that league due to ineligibility for promotion to Premi ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

. He plays as a hooker.

Early life

He captained the Munster under-18s club side during the 2008–09 inter-provincials and was part of Highfield under-18s All-Ireland winning squad in 2009.

Career

Munster

O'Byrne made his Munster debut on 5 September 2014, starting against

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in the first game of 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 ...

season. He signed a one-year development contract with Munster in March 2015. On 3 September 2016, O'Byrne went off injured in Munster's

2016–17 Pro12 The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was the ...

fixture against

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

. He was subsequently ruled out for 3 months with an elbow injury. O'Byrne made his

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

debut for Munster on 21 October 2017, doing so when he came on as a replacement for

Rhys Marshall Rhys Joseph Jennings Marshall (born 12 October 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays as a hooker for Waikato in the National Provincial Championship and in Super Rugby Pacific. Career in New Zealand Marshall has international ...

in the

round 2 Round 2 may refer to: * ''Round 2'' (J. Holiday album), 2009 * ''Round 2'' (The Stylistics album), 1972 * Round 2 (company) Round 2 is an American manufacturing company which produces scale models including die-cast, plastic, slot cars, and ot ...

fixture against

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name to ...

. He scored his first try for Munster on 3 November 2017, having come on as a replacement in the

2017–18 Pro14 The 2017–18 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Pro14, Celtic League. It is the first season to be referred to as th ...

fixture against Welsh side

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

, which Munster won 49–6. He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in January 2018. He earned the

Man-of-the-Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award in Munster's 30–26 away win against South African side

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

during the

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the ''Pr ...

on 4 November 2018. O'Byrne won his 50th cap for Munster in their opening

2019–20 Pro14 The 2019–20 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness Brewery, Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Pro14, Celtic League. It was the third season to be ...

fixture against Welsh side

on 28 September 2019, a match Munster won 39–9. He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in March 2020, a deal that will see O'Byrne remain with the province until at least June 2022. O'Byrne was rewarded for a series of strong performances by being named in the

2020–21 Pro14 The 2020–21 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the twentieth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the fourth season to be referred to as the ''PRO ...

Dream Team. O'Byrne will depart Munster at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Ealing Trailfinders

O'Byrne will join English

side

from the 2022–23 season.

Honours

Individual *

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. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

Dream Team:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

Munster ProfileURC Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:OByrne, Kevin Living people 1991 births People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from Cork (city) Irish rugby union players UL Bohemians R.F.C. players University College Cork RFC players Cork Constitution players Munster Rugby players Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club players Irish expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Rugby union hookers