Leinster and former Ireland hooker, Seán Cronin, has announced his decision to retire at the end of the current season.
Cronin, who turns 36 next month, has to date won 204 caps for Leinster Rugby, and has represented Ireland on 72 occasions.
In his time with Leinster, Cronin has won two Heineken Champions Cup medals, a Challenge Cup medal and six PRO12/14 titles.
He made his Ireland debut in 2009 and would remain a key figure throughout the next decade, including the 2014 and the 2015 Six Nations-winning squads and the Grand Slam-winning squad of 2018.
He left an indelible mark on that triumph scoring the crucial bonus-point try in the final round win over Scotland.
💙 | 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻 - 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟭
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) April 20, 2022
🧢 204 apps
🔥 225 points
🇪🇺 2x Champions Cup winner
🏅 Challenge Cup winner
🏆 6x league titles
☘️ 72 Irish caps#ThankYouNugget pic.twitter.com/dEmM7D8Dsh
Announcing his retirement, Cronin said: “After 14 years, I can confirm that this will be my last season playing professional rugby.
“It has been a unique journey for me starting off in Limerick many years ago, traveling to Galway to set my sights on playing professionally and finishing in Dublin where it’s been an incredible 11 years of so many great days in blue and green.
“I’ve been blessed to experience so many of those great days in my career.
“Like any profession you mix the highs with the lows, but it’s how I turned those low points around which is something I look back on with great pride and appreciation.
“I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do something I love for a living and this would not have been possible without the support of so many people along the way who believed in my potential and gave me the opportunity to succeed in the game.
“I’m excited for what the future holds. Next season I will be taking over as head coach of St Mary’s College RFC where I look forward to developing my coaching aspirations along with furthering my education in the financial field, but most importantly spending time with my family.”
