Seán O'Brien (born 1926) was an

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 ...

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

Glen Rovers Glen Rovers is a Cork-based Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Blackpool, Cork, Ireland. The club was founded in 1916 and is primarily concerned with the game of hurling. They were Cork senior hurling champions in 2015 and 2016, havin ...

and was a member of the

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 ...

senior inter-county team in the 1950s.

Playing career

Club

O'Brien played his club hurling with the famous

team on the north side of Cork city and enjoyed much success. He won numerous

county championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

titles with the club throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

Inter-county

O'Brien's inter-county career was a short one, however, he enjoyed much success. After a period in the wilderness the Cork team bounced back in 1952 with O'Brien capturing a

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 ...

winners' medal following a defeat of three-in-a-row All-Ireland champions

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 ...

in the provincial decider.

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

provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland final, however ‘the Dubs’ were completely outclassed by Cork on that occasion. In spite of only leading by three points at half-time Cork won by 2-14 to 0-7 and picked up an

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 ...

winners' medal. O'Brien's inter-county hurling career came to an end following this triumph.

References

Year of death missing Glen Rovers hurlers Cork inter-county hurlers All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winners 1926 births {{Cork-hurling-bio-stub