Gary Kirby (born 12 January 1967 in Patrickswell, County Limerick, Ireland) is an Irish hurling manager and former player.
While Kirby has been touted as a possible future manager of Limerick, he has been in charge of the Patrickswell senior hurling team since 2008.
[4] Three years later Kirby was a key member of the forwards as rivals Ballybrown provided the opposition in another county championship decider.
Cappamore provided the opposition; however, Patrickswell triumphed by ten points and Kirby added a third county title to his collection.
[5] Patrickswell's run of success came to an end in the All-Ireland semi-final when the O'Donovan Rossa GAC Belfast club defeated the Munster champions by a single point.
Patrickswell failed to make it three-in-a-row in 1989; however, the team bounced back the following year to defeat Adare and give Kirby a fourth county championship title.
He later added a second Munster club title to his collection following a triumph over Éire Óg; however, he was back on the team for the All-Ireland final against Glenmore.
The game was an exciting one; however, Patrickswell only held the lead on one occasion when Leonard Enright opened the scoring.
Four-in-a-row proved beyond Patrickswell; however, in 2000 a one-point defeat of Doon gave Kirby a ninth county championship winners' medal.
[6] Kirby first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Limerick minor hurling team in the early 1980s.
The second encounter between the two sides was a low-scoring tense affair; however, Limerick narrowly triumphed by 2-5 to 2-4 and Kirby collected an All-Ireland minor winners' medal.
His first few seasons on the team ended with an early exit from the provincial championship, however, even though Limerick weren't enjoying much success Kirby was presented with his first All-Star award in 1991.
Limerick battled back to claim a narrow 0-14 to 0-13 victory and Kirby collected his first National League winners' medal.
Limerick failed to reach the provincial decider the following year; however, in 1994 Kirby was captain as the team bounced back and qualified for the Munster final again.
It looked as if Kirby's side were going to make history and claim the title as they had a five-point lead with as many minutes left.
Tom Dempsey was the hero of the day as he scored a goal after nineteen minutes to give Wexford a major advantage.
The recent All-Ireland defeats, however, seemed to have damaged the team as Limerick crashed out of the provincial championship at an early stage.
Ulster provided the opposition; however, Munster scraped a win by 0-13 to 1-9 and Kirby collected a Railway Cup winners' medal.
After a remarkable three-game sage with Tipperary in the Munster semi-final, the Treaty county qualified for their first provincial decider since 2001.
[15] These two sides later met again in the All-Ireland semi-final; however, the management and players masterminded a magnificent 5-11 to 2-15 victory over the Munster champions.
Unfortunately, Limerick got off to a bad start with goalkeeper Brian Murray letting in two goals by Eddie Brennan and Henry Shefflin in the first ten minutes.