Michael Cleary (born 16 August 1966) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

with his local club Nenagh Éire Óg and with the

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 ...

senior inter-county team in the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Michael Cleary was born in

Nenagh Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

in 1966. He is the only son of Peg and James Cleary, he was educated locally and later worked in the family newsagent and restaurant. He has two sisters.

Playing career

Club

Cleary played his club hurling with his local Nenagh Éire Óg club and enjoyed much success. In the 1980s he won under-16 and under-21 county medals with the club, as well as North Tipperary, county junior medals and a senior League Division medal. In 1995 Cleary won his only senior county title. Nenagh reached the Munster club final in that year but lost to Sixmilebridge of Clare.

Inter-county

Cleary first came to prominence as a member of the

minor hurling team in the early 1980s. He won a Munster title in this grade in 1983, however, there was no subsequent All-Ireland title. Cleary later played on the county’s under-21 team, however, he had little success at this grade. He subsequently joined the Tipp senior team and made his debut in 1988 in a

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

game against

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. The following year Cleary had his first major success when he won his first senior

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

title. Tipp later went on to defeat surprise finalists Antrim in the championship decider, giving Cleary his first

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medal. Tipperary sensationally lost their Munster crown to

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

in 1990, however, the team returned in 1991 and Cleary collected his second Munster medal. His team later defeated

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

, giving Cleary a second All-Ireland medal. Cleary was the leading scorer in the senior hurling championship in 1991. Tipp surrendered their Munster title to Cork again in 1992, however, the team bounced back in 1993 and Cleary added a third Munster medal to his collection. Cleary later had the honour of leading his team against Galway in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final, however, the Munster men were defeated on that occasion. Cleary won a

medal in 1994, however, Tipperary’s hurling fortunes in the championship started to take a downturn. Cleary’s side lost the 1997 Munster final to Clare, however, the two sides later met in the All-Ireland final due to the introduction of the ‘back-door system.’ Tipp lost by a single point that day and Cleary retired from inter-county hurling shortly afterwards. Cleary's other honours include four consecutive All-Star awards between 1990 and 1993.

Management

Michael also coached the Tipperary Camogie Team to their first All-Ireland championship in 1999 and to two further All-Ireland's in 2000 and 2001 completing an historic three-in-a-row.

Honours

Team

;Tipperary *

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurling competition i ...

(2):

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, 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 Exxo ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

Munster Senior Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster GAA, Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the h ...

(4):

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

(2): 1987–88, 1993–94 ;Nenagh Éire Óg *

Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship The Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the FBD Insurance Tipperary County Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Associati ...

(1): 1995 ;Munster *

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

(1): 1992

Individual

;Awards * All-Star (4): 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 * All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Top Scorer (1): 1991

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Michael 1966 births Living people Tipperary inter-county hurlers Nenagh Éire Óg hurlers Munster inter-provincial hurlers