Stephen Lucey (born 4 January 1980 in

Croom Croom () is a village in County Limerick, Ireland. It is located just off the N20 (which has bypassed the town since 2001) on the River Maigue. It is 8 km southeast of Adare on the N20. History Cromadh (now Croom) was a village in th ...

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

) is a former

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 plays

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

and was with the

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

senior inter-county team. He also played football with

Playing career

Club

Lucey plays

with his local

club and has enjoyed some success. He also played with UCD during his college days.

Inter-county

Lucey first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the

under-21 team. He won a Munster title at this level in 2000 before later collecting 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 ...

medal following a victory over

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. The following year Lucey won a second set of Munster and All-Ireland under-21 honours, as Limerick completed the second leg of a three-in-a-row. By this stage he had already joined the county senior team, however, Limerick's hurling fortunes were about to take a dramatic downturn. Following the county's victory over

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 the

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

in 2001 Limerick failed to win a game in the province until their 2007 Munster semi-final victory over

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 ...

. This was achieved following a three-game saga, however, Lucey's side later lost the Munster final to

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 ...

. Limerick later gained revenge by defeating 'the Decies' in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final, setting up an All-Ireland final meeting with

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 ...

on 2 September 2007. In 2009 Lucey, along with 11 others, was dropped from the hurling squad thus ending his 9-year career. In early 2011 Lucey was recalled to the hurling panel after new

Dónal O'Grady Dónal O'Grady (born 31 December 1953) is an Irish former hurler and manager. O'Grady had a successful playing career as a full-back at senior level with the Cork county team throughout the early 1980s. In a brief career he won one All-Irelan ...

was appointed as manager.

Football

Lucey won a

Munster Under-21 Football Championship The Munster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest ...

in 2000 and played in the All Ireland final only to lose out to Tyrone in the final. He won 2

Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Munster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-co ...

in 2000 and 2001. He played in two

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It i ...

final only to lose out to

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

both times. He made a return to the football panel in 2009 and played in another

final but lost out to

by a point. The following year Lucey's bad luck went on as Limerick were once again beaten this time by Kerry in the Munster Final.

Honours

Hurling * 2

All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bord Gáis Energy GAA Hurling Under-20 All-Ireland Championship) is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (G ...

2000 2001 * 2

2000 2001 * 1 National Hurling League Division 2 2011 * 1 Dublin Under-21 Hurling Championship 2001 Football * 1

2000 * 1 National Football League Division 4 2010 * 1

McGrath Cup The McGrath Cup is a Gaelic football competition played each January in 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 o ...

2004 * 1

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of the ...

2002 Awards * 1 GPA Hurling Team of the Year 2007 * 1 Munster Hurling Team of the Year 2005 * 1 Munster Football Team of the Year 2004

References

Teams

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucey, Stephen 1980 births Living people Croom hurlers Limerick inter-county hurlers Croom Gaelic footballers Limerick inter-county Gaelic footballers UCD hurlers