Former Ireland Women’s team manager and Galwegians and Connacht player Tom Tierney has died at the age of 46. We need to find out what happened to him and Tom Tierney’s cause of death.
What happened to Tom Tierney?
Sadly, the death of former Munster and Ireland scrum-half Tom Tierney has been announced. Tom Tierney, a scrum half for the Irish national team and the Leicester Tigers, passed away at age 46, and tributes have been pouring in ever since.
While playing for Ireland, Tierney scored a try in a 44-14 quarterfinal playoff victory against Romania at the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
He earned eight caps over two years, but in 2000, a Limerick native called Peter Stringer was preferred over him for the starting position. He was cut from the national team and never returned.
Tom Tierney cause of death
Munster Rugby, the IRFU, and Connacht Rugby were all stunned by Tom Tierney’s untimely death. He was 46. The scrum-half, who started four games for Ireland at the 1999 World Cup and had eight national team caps, died unexpectedly in the middle of the night. From 2004 to 2008, Tom played professionally for a number of teams, including Connacht, Galwegians, Richmond, Garryowen, Munster, and Leicester Tigers.
The scrum half made his debut for Ireland in June 1999. He went on to gain eight caps for his country, scoring a try in a Pool E win over Romania in the 1999 Rugby World Cup to earn four of those caps. The former player became coach, leading the way at Garryowen, Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, and Cork Constitution. He is from from Limerick.
Over the previous three years, he had been employed by the IRFU as a coach for the Ireland Men’s U19 and U20, Women’s 7s, and Women’s 15s teams. He won the Women’s Six Nations Championship in 2015.
He has been the IRFU National Talent Coach at Munster Rugby’s High-Performance Centre with the Academy players since 2021.
Condolences & Tributes to Tom Tierney
The death of a “great comrade and teammate” has left former teammate Frankie Sheahan “very sad,” as he tweeted.
The former hooksman praised the current coach on Twitter, writing, “Great player, excellent guy, and outstanding coach.” Mary Tierney’s widow and family have my deepest sympathies.
Once Tierney hung up his cleats, he went on to have a fruitful career as a coach. Under his guidance, the Irish women won their second consecutive Six Nations title in 2015. Tierney resigned after the 2017 Rugby World Cup following the team’s dismal performance, which included a loss to France that prevented them from completing a Grand Slam.
He then coached Ireland’s under-19 and under-20 sides, where he was instrumental in cultivating some of the talent that eventually propelled Ireland to the top of the rugby world rankings. Before he passed away, Tierney worked as a national talent coach at the University of Limerick for the IRFU.