| Birth name | Finbarr Patrick Kieran Bresnihan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1944-03-13)13 March 1944 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Waterford, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 18 July 2010(2010-07-18) (aged 66) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Gonzaga College, Dublin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University College Dublin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | rheumatologist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Finbarr Patrick Kieran Bresnihan (13 March 1944[1] – 18 July 2010[2]) was an Irishrheumatologist and internationalrugby union player.
Bresnihan was born inWaterford in 1944 and educated atGonzaga College, Dublin before qualifying as a doctor atUniversity College Dublin (UCD). He was married with a son and three daughters and died in 2010.[2]
After qualifying as a doctor, Bresnihan specialised inrheumatology atGuy's Hospital in London before working withMorris Ziff at theUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical School before returning to Ireland to set up a laboratory at the UCD Medical School andSt. Vincent's University Hospital. During his career he wrote a number of papers, two books and contributions to works on rheumatology. In 1991 UCD created a chair of Rheumatology for Bresnihan and in 2009 he was honoured as a "Master" by theAmerican College of Rheumatology.[2]
Bresnihan was capped twenty-five times as acentre for Ireland between 1966 and 1971. He scored six tries for Ireland.[3]
Bresnihan made twoBritish and Irish Lions tours. He was called up as a replacement for the1966 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand but did not play in any of the tests. He was also selected for the1968 British Lions tour to South Africa and played in three of the tests againstSouth Africa.[citation needed]
He played club rugby forUniversity College Dublin,Lansdowne,London Irish,[2] andDallas Harlequins, and represented theMunster provincial team and theBarbarians invitiational team.[2]