Darren Gleeson

Darren Gleeson (born 19 March 1981) is an Irish hurler who plays as a goalkeeper for the Tipperary senior team.
Born in Portroe, County Tipperary, Gleeson first excelled at hurling during his schooling at Nenagh CBS. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of twenty-one when he first linked up with the Tipperary under-21 team. He joined the senior panel during the 2008 league. Gleeson subsequently became a regular member of the starting fifteen and has won Five Munster medals. He has been an All-Ireland winner on two occasions.
At club level Gleeson is a one-time North Tipperary championship medallist with Portroe.

Club

Gleeson plays his club hurling with Portroe and has enjoyed some success.

In 2012 he won a North Tipperary championship medal following a 3-16 to 1-19 defeat of Toomevara.

Inter-county

Gleeson first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Tipperary under-21 hurling team. He was substitute goalkeeper on the team in 2002, however, Limerick dominated the championship at this time.

In 2008 Gleeson joined the Tipperary senior hurling team as understudy to regular 'keeper Brendan Cummins. He was an unused substitute as Tipperary claimed that year's National Hurling League following a 3-18 to 3-16 victory. Gleeson was later included on Tipperary's championship panel and collected a Munster medal as a non-playing substitute following a 2-21 to 0-19 defeat of Clare.

Gleeson made his competitive debut the following season in a league game against Galway. Later that year he made his championship debut as a ten-minute blood sub for Brendan Cummins in a 1-19 to 0-19 Munster quarter-final defeat of Cork.

Gleeson was still a member of the Tipperary senior hurling panel in 2010. That year he collected an All-Ireland medal as a non-playing substitute following Tipp's 4-17 to 1-18 defeat of Kilkenny.

The following year Gleeson came on as substitute for Cummins after 64 minutes of the provincial decider. He won a Munster medal as a result of Tipp's 7-19 to 0-19 trouncing of Waterford.

Gleeson started the 2014 season as first choice goalkeeper for Tipperary due to the retirement of Brendan Cummins at the end of the 2013 season. He made his first start in the championship for Tipperary on 1 June 2014 in the Munster Championship against Limerick in a 2-18 to 2-16 defeat.

On 17 August 2014, Tipperary defeated Cork by 2-18 to 1-11 in the All-Ireland semi-final to reach the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final. Former Cork goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack speaking on the Sunday Game highlights programme on the night of the semi-final match said that in his opinion Gleeson had given the greatest ever display of tactical puckouts in the game saying "Darren Gleeson gave the greatest display of tactical puckouts ever seen... I want to put it on record: it was the greatest display of puckouts ever but the Cork defending was poor".

Gleeson started his first All Ireland final on 7 September 2014 against Kilkenny in a match that finished in a draw. Kilkenny went on to defeat Tipperary in the replay three weeks later.

In October 2014, Gleeson won his first All Stars Award after a successful 2014 campaign where Tipperary reached the All-Ireland Final.

On 4 September 2016, Gleeson won his second All-Ireland Senior hurling title when Tipperary defeated Kilkenny in the final by 2-29 to 2-20.

Player

Tipperary

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (2): 2010 (sub), 2016
• Munster Senior Hurling Championship (6): 2008 (sub), 2009 (sub), 2011, 2012 (sub), 2015, 2016
• National Hurling League (1): 2008 (sub)

Individual

Honours

• All-Star (1): 2014

On the 4 May 2016, it was reported that he was banned from being a financial adviser by the Central Bank.

On the 21 October 2015, it was reported that he was charged with theft amounting to almost €94,000.[1]