Thomas Stapleton (born 22 February 1988) is 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 ...

hurler who currently plays as a right wing-back for 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 team. Stapleton made his first appearance for the team during the 2007 National League and has become a regular player over the last few seasons. Since then he has won one

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winners' medal on the field of play. At club level Stapleton is a county intermediate championship medalist with Templederry Kenyons.

Playing career

Club

Stapelton plays his club hurling with Stapelton with Templederry Kenyons and has enjoyed some success. In 2008 he won a county intermediate championship medal.

Inter-county

Stapleton first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Tipperary minor hurling team in 2005. He enjoyed little success in his first year, however, Tipperary reached the All-Ireland decider via the "back-door" in 2006. Three-in-a-row hopefuls

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provided the opposition, however, Tipp powered to 2–18 to 2–7 victory. It was Stapleton's 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 in that grade. He subsequently joined the Tipperary under-21 team. Stapleton won a

medal in this grade in 2008 following a controversial one-point defeat of

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. Tipp later reached the All-Ireland, however, Maher's side were defeated by Kilkenny. Stapleton made his senior competitive debut for Tipperary 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

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in 2007. Later that season he made his championship debut against

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 ...

, in what turned out to be an unsuccessful championship campaign. After falling out of favour with

Liam Sheedy Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these elem ...

's new management team, Stapleton remained on the periphery of the team for a number of seasons. Stapelton was back on the starting fifteen in 2012. A subsequent 2-17 to 0-16 defeat of

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 ...

in the provincial decider gave him his first

medal on the field of play. Tipperary later faced a humiliating 4-24 to 1-15 defeat by eventual champions Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Thomas 1988 births Living people Templederry Kenyons hurlers Tipperary inter-county hurlers