Mickey Byrne

Who is Mickey Byrne?

Mickey "the Rattler" Byrne is an Irish retired hurler who played as a right corner-back for the Tipperary senior team.

Born in Dublin, Byrne first excelled at hurling whilst at Thurles CBS. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he first linked up with the Tipperary minor team. He joined senior team for the 1945 championship. Byrne went on to play a key part for the next fifteen years, and won four All-Ireland medals, four Munster medals and seven National Hurling League medals.

Byrne represented the Munster inter-provincial team at various times throughout his career, winning one Railway Cup medal as a non-playing substitute in 1955. At club level he won a record fourteen championship medals with Thurles Sarsfields.

Throughout his career, Byrne made 34 championship appearances, which in his day was considered to be a significant career total given that in some seasons in the 20th century, teams might expect no more than one or two appearances in the Championship, moreover, in a period when there was no opportunity to re-enter the Chamopionship following a defeat in the early stages of competition. He announced his retirement from inter-county hurling following the conclusion of the 1959-60 National Hurling League.