Len Gaynor

Len Gaynor
Personal information

Sport	Hurling
Position	Left wing-back
Born	1944 (age 71–72) Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, Ireland
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Kilruane MacDonagh's
Club titles
Tipperary titles	3
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1964–1974	Tipperary
Inter-county titles
Munster titles	4
All-Irelands	3
NHL	2
All Stars	0

Len Gaynor (born 1944) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a left wing-back for the Tipperary senior hurling team.

Gaynor joined the team during the 1964 championship and became a regular member of the starting fifteen over the next decade. During that time he won three All-Ireland medals, five Munster medals and two National Hurling League medals. He ended up as an All-Ireland runner-up on two occasions.

At club level Gaynor is a three-time county club championship medallist with Kilruane MacDonagh's.

In retirement from playing Gaynor became involved in team management and coaching. At inter-county level has served as manager of the Clare and Tipperary senior hurling teams. He has also had a wide-ranging coaching career with numerous club teams in Tipperary.

Playing career

Club

Gaynor played his club hurling with his local Kilruane MacDonagh's club. He enjoyed some success at underage levels before later winning three consecutive senior county championship titles in 1977, 1978 and 1979.

Minor and under-21

By the early 1960s Gaynor had made an impact as a member of the Tipperary minor hurling team. He tasted his first success in 1962 when he won a Munster minor medal. He later joined the Tipp under-21 panel with whom he won both Munster and All-Ireland medals in 1964 in the inaugural year of the competition. Gaynor won a second Munster under-21 medal in 1965.

Senior

Gaynor's skill at underage levels brought him to the attention of the senior selectors who elevated him onto the senior county team in 1964. He went on to win his first National Hurling League medal at the start of 1965, before Tipp demolished all opposition in the provincial championship giving him his first Munster title. Wexford were Tipp's opponents in the All-Ireland final, however, the game failed to live up to the two classic games between the two sides in 1960 and 1962. Victory went to Tipp on that occasion with Gaynor collecting his first All-Ireland medal.^[1]

Tipp lost their provincial and All-Ireland crowns in spectacular fashion at the first hurdle in 1966 when a young Limerick team took them by surprise. The team bounced back in 1967 with Gaynor collecting a second Munster title. By this stage, however, Tipp's pool of players was ageing and the county's hurling fortunes were in decline. Kilkenny provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland final and provided more than a match for Tipperary. Goals from Paddy Moran, Martin Brennan and Tom Walsh laid to rest a bogey that Tipperary had over Kilkenny since 1922.^[2]

Tipp crushed Cork in the provincial final again in 1968, giving Gaynor his third Munster title. For the fourth time that decade Tipperary faced Wexford in the championship decider, however, the Munster champions were now in terminal decline and surrendered an eight-point lead at half-time giving Wexford a 5–8 to 3–12 victory.^[3]

In 1971 Tipp defeated Limerick in the provincial decider, giving Gaynor a fourth Munster winners' medal. Kilkenny provided the opposition against Tipperary in that year's All-Ireland final. In the All-Ireland final to be broadcast in colour by Telfis Éireann, Tipp won on a score line of 5–17 to 5–14.^[4] It was Gaynor's second All-Ireland medal.

Gaynor retired from inter-county hurling in 1973.

Managerial career

Len Gaynor

Inter-county management

Years	County
1990 – 1994 1996 – 1998	Clare Tipperary

In the early 1990s Gaynor served as manager of the Clare senior hurling team. He had some success by steering the county to two consecutive Munster final appearances in 1993 and 1994, however, these games ended in huge defeats for Clare. He was replaced in 1995 by Ger Loughnane. In 1997 Gaynor became manager of the Tipperary senior hurling team. Once again his tenure in charge was mixed, as Tipp were defeated in both the Munster and All-Ireland finals in the first year of the "back-door" system.

References

↑ The GAA Book of Lists p. 356
↑ The GAA Book of Lists p. 356
↑ The GAA Book of Lists p. 357
↑ The GAA Book of Lists p. 357

Sporting positions
Preceded by Séamus Durack	Clare Senior Hurling Manager 1990–1994	Succeeded by Ger Loughnane
Preceded by Fr. Tom Fogarty	Tipperary Senior Hurling Manager 1996–1998	Succeeded by Nicky English
Preceded by Éamonn Kelly	Tipperary Intermediate Hurling Manager 2004–2006	Succeeded by Connie Maher
Preceded by Michael Ryan	Munster Hurling Manager 2008–2009	Succeeded by Liam Sheedy

Teams

Tipperary - 1964 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions (20th title)

1 J. O'Donoghue 2 John Doyle 3 M. Maher 4 K. Carey 5 M. Burns 6 T. Wall 7 M. Murphy (c) 8 T. English 9 M. Roche 10 Jimmy Doyle 11 L. Kiely 12 M. Keating 13 D. Nealon 14 J. McKenna 15 S. McLoughlin Subs used 16 L. Devaney for L. Kiely 18 M. Lonergan for M. Maher Subs not used 17 P. O'Sullivan 19 L. Gaynor 20 P. Ryan Chairman of selectors P. Leahy Selectors M. Kennedy P. J. Kenny J. Stapleton P. O'Dwyer P. Ryan

Reference: Tipperary GAA Archives Database searchable by team, year and/or player name.

Tipperary - 1965 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions (21st title)

1 J. O'Donoghue 2 John Doyle 3 M. Maher 4 K. Carey 5 M. Burns 6 T. Wall 7 L. Gaynor 8 T. English 9 M. Roche 10 Jimmy Doyle (c) 11 L. Kiely 12 L. Devaney 13 D. Nealon 14 J. McKenna 15 S. McLoughlin Subs not used: P. O'Sullivan P. Doyle T. Ryan N. O'Gorman M. Keating S. Mackey J. Dillon Chairman of selectors P. Leahy Selectors M. Kennedy P. J. Kenny J. Stapleton P. O'Dwyer P. Ryan

Reference: Tipperary GAA Archives Database searchable by team, year and/or player name.

Tipperary - 1967 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship runners-up

1 J. O'Donoghue 2 John Doyle 3 K. Carey 4 N. O'Gorman 5 M. Burns 6 T. Wall 7 L. Gaynor 8 T. English 9 M. Roche (c) 10 D. Nealon 11 J. Flanagan 12 L. Devaney 13 Jimmy Doyle 14 M. Keating 15 S. McLoughlin Subs used 17 L. Kiely for S. McLoughlin 19 M. Lonergan for M. Burns 18 P. J. Ryan for T. English Subs not used 16 J. McKenna 20 P. Arrigan Selectors P. Ryan M. Kennedy J. Stapleton P. Kenny P. O'Dwyer Trainer O. Bennett

Reference: Tipperary GAA Archives Database searchable by team, year and/or player name.

Tipperary - 1968 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship runners-up

1 J. O'Donoghue 2 J. Costigan 3 N. O'Gorman 4 J. Gleeson 5 M. Burns 6 M. Roche (c) 7 L. Gaynor 8 P. J. Ryan 9 D. Nealon 10 M. Keating 11 J. Ryan 12 J. Doyle 13 L. Devaney 14 J. McKenna 15 S. McLoughlin Sub used F. Loughnane for J. Doyle Selectors J. Hennessy P. J. Kenny M. Kennedy P. Ryan P. O'Dwyer

Reference: Tipperary GAA Archives Database searchable by team, year and/or player name.

Tipperary - 1971 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions (22nd title)

1 P. O'Sullivan 2 L. King 3 J. Kelly 4 J. Gleeson 5 T. O'Connor (c) 6 M. Roche 7 L. Gaynor 8 P.J. Ryan 9 S. Hogan 10 F. Loughnane 11 N. O'Dwyer 12 D. Ryan 13 J. Flanagan 14 R. Ryan 15 M. Keating Subs used 18 J. Doyle for S. Hogan 20 P. Byrne for J. Flanagan Subs not used 16 J. O'Donoghue 17 N. Lane 19 J. Ryan 21 J. Fogarty 22 M. Jones Coach D. Nealon Selectors T. English K. Carey S. Ryan J. Hennessy J. Lanigan

Reference: Tipperary GAA Archives Database searchable by team, year and/or player name.

Tipperary - 1997 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship runners-up

1 B. Cummins 2 P. Shelly 3 N. Sheehy 4 M. Ryan 5 L. Sheedy 6 Colm Bonnar 7 Conal Bonnar 8 T. Dunne 9 C. Gleeson (c) 10 L. McGrath 11 D. Ryan 12 J. Leahy 13 M. Cleary 14 E. O'Neill 15 B. O'Meara Subs used 21 A. Ryan for L. McGrath 22 L. Cahill for M. Cleary Subs not used 16 J. Cottrell 17 G. Frend 18 R. Ryan 19 P. Delaney 20 A. Butler 23 K. Tucker 24 A. Flanagan Manager L. Gaynor Selectors M. Doyle M. Duggan

Reference: Tipperary GAA Archives Database searchable by team, year and/or player name.

Clare senior hurling team – managers

É. Cregan (1984–85) S. Durack (1985–90) L. Gaynor (1990–94) G. Loughnane (1994–2000) C. Lyons (2000–03) A. Daly (2003–06) T. Considine (2006–08) M. McNamara (2007–09) G. O'Loughlin (2009–11) D. Fitzgerald (2011–16) D. Moloney & G. O'Connor (2016–)

Tipperary senior hurling team managers

D. Nealon (?–78) L. Gaynor (1978–86) T. Wall (1986) M. Keating (1986–94) Fr. T. Fogarty (1994–96) L. Gaynor (1996–98) N. English (1998–2002) M. Doyle (2002–03) K. Hogan (2003–05) M. Keating (2005–07) L. Sheedy (2007–10) D. Ryan (2010–12) E. O'Shea (2012–15) M. Ryan (2015)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.