Stephen Lucey (born 4 January 1980 in Croom, County Limerick) is a former Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Croom^[1] and was with the Limerick senior inter-county team. He also played football with Limerick.^[2]

Playing career

Club

Lucey plays hurling with his local Croom club and has enjoyed some success. He also played with UCD during his college days.

Inter-county

Lucey first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Limerick under-21 team. He won a Munster title at this level in 2000 before later collecting an All-Ireland medal following a victory over Galway. The following year Lucey won a second set of Munster and All-Ireland under-21 honours, as Limerick completed the second leg of a three-in-a-row. By this stage he had already joined the county senior team, however, Limerick's hurling fortunes were about to take a dramatic downturn. Following the county's victory over Cork in the Munster Championship in 2001 Limerick failed to win a game in the province until their 2007 Munster semi-final victory over Tipperary. This was achieved following a three-game saga, however, Lucey's side later lost the Munster final to Waterford. Limerick later gained revenge by defeating 'the Decies' in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final, setting up an All-Ireland final meeting with Kilkenny on 2 September 2007. In 2009 Lucey, along with 11 others, was dropped from the hurling squad thus ending his 9-year career. In early 2011 Lucey was recalled to the hurling panel after new Dónal O'Grady was appointed as manager.

Football

Lucey won a Munster Under-21 Football Championship in 2000 ^[3] and played in the All Ireland final only to lose out to Tyrone in the final. He won 2 Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship in 2000 and 2001.^[4] He played in two Munster Senior Football Championship final only to lose out to Kerry both times. He made a return to the football panel in 2009 and played in another Munster Senior Football Championship final but lost out to Cork by a point. The following year Lucey's bad luck went on as Limerick were once again beaten this time by Kerry in the Munster Final.

Honours

Hurling

• 2 All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship 2000 2001
• 2 Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship 2000 2001
• 1 National Hurling League Division 2 2011
• 1 Dublin Under-21 Hurling Championship 2001

Football

• 1 Munster Under-21 Football Championship 2000
• 1 National Football League Division 4 2010
• 1 McGrath Cup 2004
• 1 Dublin Senior Football Championship 2002

Awards

• 1 GPA Hurling Team of the Year 2007
• 1 Munster Hurling Team of the Year 2005
• 1 Munster Football Team of the Year 2004