Denis Leamy – by Eugene O’Dwyer
Primary Children's Competition
Denis Leamy was born in 1981 in Boherlahan Dualla parish. He was the eldest of six children. He began his underage rugby career with his local Cashel Rugby Club and played his football and hurling for his local parish Boherlahan Dualla GAA club. The clubhouse in Dualla field is named after Denis.
Denis played rugby with Cashel until he went to Rockwell school. With him they won the Bowen Shield and were runners-up for the Senior Cup in 2000. He was an automatic choice on the Irish Schoolboys side after making his debut against Australian schools at Ravenhill, Belfast in December 1998. He was with the Ireland Schools squad that wound up their Australian tour undefeated with a win over Australian schools.
Natural progression to U21 level followed, where he won five caps. Having completed his second level education at Rockwell College, Denis attended at University College Cork, where over the next few years he played with UCC in the All-Ireland League.
He won his first competitive start for Munster against Wasps in the Brazen Head Trophy in August 2001. Denis went on to win 145 caps for Munster in the course of his career and scored 30 tries in the process. In the 2006/2007 season, he was Munster’s leading try scorer with seven tries. Denis went on to win the Triple Crown, Six Nations and the Grand Slam. He won two Munster Heineken Cups, the Celtic League and the Celtic Cup. He also played in two World Cups in 2007 and 2011.
Denis Leamy played 202 games, 145 for Munster and 57 for Ireland, in his professional career. He would have played many more but injuries ultimately ended his playing days at the age of 30. Denis will be greatly missed on the field for Munster and Ireland.
Eugene O’Dwyer, Ballytarsna NS, 5th Class.
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