Ronan Curran (born 26 February 1981) is an Irish hurling manager and former hurler who played for Cork Senior Championship club St Finbarr's.
Curran played for the Cork senior hurling team for 10 years, during which time he made a record number of appearances as a centre-back.
Described as the outstanding centre-back of the decade, his half-back-line partnership with Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and John Gardiner is regarded as one of the greatest of all time.
After championship success in the minor grades in both hurling and Gaelic football, he spent much of his adult career as a dual player at the highest level.
Curran eventually became Cork's first-choice centre-back and made a combined total of 97 National League and Championship appearances in a career that ended with his last game in 2011.
At inter-provincial level, he was selected to play in three championship campaigns with Munster, with his sole Railway Cup medal being won in 2005.
In 2007, after fifty years of playing in the top flight of the county senior football championship, St Finbarr's were relegated to the intermediate level.
St Finbarr's won by 2–13 to 0–14, giving Curran a county premier intermediate championship winners' medal.
That year he won a Munster winners' medal with the Cork minor football team following a 2–16 to 1–9 defeat of old rivals Kerry.
Curran subsequently joined the Cork under-21 football and hurling teams; however, he experienced little success in this grade.
Both sides met again six days later with Cork making no mistake and taking the spoils on a score line of 3–17 to 2–7.
[13] In 2005 Cork were on form again and the team won back the provincial crown that year with a 1–12 to 1–16 victory over Tipperary.
While it was expected that Cork and Kilkenny would do battle again in a third consecutive All-Ireland final Galway were the surprise winners of the second semi-final.
Star forward Joe Deane was to the fore, scoring an impressive eight points and contributing greatly to Cork's 2–11 to 1–11 victory over their old rivals.
[16] Subsequent victories over Limerick and Waterford saw Cork qualify for their fourth consecutive All-Ireland final and for the third time Kilkenny were the opponents.
In the end the Cork hurlers returned to duty, however, their first championship game resulted in a defeat by Tipperary and 'the Rebels' had to take their chances in the win-or-bust qualifiers.
He was later re-appointed for a further two-year term by the Cork County Board, in spite of the majority of the players not wanting him to stay on.
Following the resolution to these difficulties Cork were defeated by Tipperary on a score line of 1–19 to 0–19 in the opening round of the Munster campaign.
After a convincing win over Offaly the next assignment for Curran's Cork team was a win-or-bust All-Ireland qualifier meeting with Galway.
Curran announced his retirement from inter county hurling in the Irish Examiner newspaper on Wednesday 24 August 2011, stating he felt the time was right to go as he wasn't getting any younger.
Leinster provided the opposition on that occasion, however, victory went to Munster by 1–21 to 2–14, giving Curran a Railway Cup winners' medal.
In spite of this defeat, Curran's side reached the quarter-finals on 15 September 2018; however, St Finbarr's were beaten by Blackrock on a 1–20 to 1–11 scoreline.
Curran's second championship season in charge saw St Finbarr's remain undefeated in their opening three games.