Gerard Cunningham (born 30 August 1961) is an Irish hurling manager and former player who played for Cork Senior Championship club St Finbarr's.
Cunningham was the St Finbarr's first-choice goalkeeper for almost twenty years, during which time he also won six Cork Championship titles.
From his debut, Cunningham was ever-present as a goalkeeper and made a combined total of 161 National League and Championship appearances in a career that ended with his last game in 1998.
[3] At inter-provincial level, Cunningham was selected to play in eight championship campaigns with Munster, winning Railway Cup medals in 1984, 1985 and 1992.
Cunningham later attended Colaiste Íognáid Rís where Billy Morgan nurtured his Gaelic football skills.
[5] Cunningham joined the St Finbarr's club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels without success.
[6] On 7 October 1979, Cunningham lined out in goal when St Finbarr's faced Blackrock in the final; however, he ended the game on the losing side after a 2-14 to 2-06 defeat.
The All-Ireland final on 17 May 1981 saw St Finbarr's suffer a 1-15 to 1-11 defeat by Ballyhale Shamrocks, with Cunningham once again lining out in goal.
Cunningham ended the game with a fifth winners' medal after the 3-18 to 2-14 victory, while he also had the honour of lifting the Seán Óg Murphy Cup on behalf of the team.
On 14 October 1990, Cunningham made his eighth final appearance when he lined out in goal in a 3-06 to 1-12 draw with Na Piarsaigh.
On 10 October 1993, he lined out in goal in a 10th county final, with first-time finalists Carbery holding St Finbarr's to a 1-17 apiece draw.
The replay a week later saw Cunningham selected as man of the match as he claimed his sixth winners' medal following a 1-14 to 1-13 victory.
On 8 July 1979, Cunningham won a second successive Munster Championship medal, however, an injury ruled him out of the 3-17 to 4-04 defeat of Limerick in the final.
Cork came from behind in the closing stages to win by a single point, scored from long range by Kevin Hennessy.
In 1981 Cunningham enjoyed his first major success at senior level when he won a National Hurling League medal following a victory over Offaly.
Once again Kilkenny dominated the game, assisted by a strong wind in the first-half, and hung on in the face of a great fight-back by Cork.
As a gesture to Thurles, the cradle town of the association, the All-Ireland final was played in Semple Stadium that year.
The game was a triumph for Cork, who won by 3–16 to 1–12 courtesy of second-half goals by Kevin Hennessy and Seánie O'Leary.
A subsequent defeat of Antrim allowed Cork to advance directly to the All-Ireland final where Galway provided the opposition.
Playing against Waterford in 1989 Cunningham received a heavy knock to the head and spent the remainder of the game in a daze, conceding three goals.
[5] Cork were back in 1990 and, against all the odds, they wrestled the Munster title from Tipperary after Babs Keating's famous 'donkeys don't win derbies' remark.
Once again, Galway were the bookies favourites and justified this tag by going seven points ahead in the opening thirty-five minutes thanks to a masterful display by Joe Cooney.
The game was effectively decided on an incident which occurred midway through the second half when Cunningham blocked a point-blank shot from Martin Naughton with his nose.
Cunningham claimed his seventh Munster medal in 1992, however, Cork faced the old enemy Kilkenny in another All-Ireland final.
At the age of 37 he had donned the famed red and white hooped jersey for almost 20 years, during which time he made 50 consecutive championship appearances while also playing in 111 National League games.
After defeats by Leinster and Connacht over the next few years Cunningham surrendered his place on the team to Tipperary's Ken Hogan.
Cunningham was Cork's best prospect for the goalkeeping position; however, he faced still opposition from such legends as Kilkenny duo Ollie Walsh and Noel Skehan and Wexford's Art Foley.
Cunningham later served as a selector and goalkeeping coach to the Cork team under the managerial reigns of both Dónal O'Grady and John Allen from 2003 until 2006.
In January 2009 Cunningham succeeded Peter Queally as manager of the Ballygunner senior club team in Waterford.
[14] In September 2011 Cunningham was named as a selector, and later as coach, in Jimmy Barry-Murphy's new Cork senior hurling management team.