Denis Burns

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Denis Burns" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Denis Gerard Burns (born 1952) is an Irish former hurling manager and player who played as a right corner-back at senior level for the Cork county team.^{[citation needed]}

Born in Cork, Burns was introduced to hurling in his youth before later coming to prominence at underage levels with the St Finbarr's club. An All-Ireland medal winner at senior level as captain, Burns also won three Munster medals and five championship medals.^{[citation needed]}

Burns made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of twenty when he first linked up with the Cork under-21 team. An All-Ireland medal winner in this grade, he later made his senior debut during the 1974-75 league. Burns went on to play a key role for Cork in defence during a hugely successful era, and won three All-Ireland medals, five Munster medals, one National Hurling League medal plus Oireachtas and Wembley Tournament medals.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout his inter-county career Burns made 26 inter county appearances. He retired from inter-county hurling following the conclusion of the 1980 championship. Burns also had a distinguished inter- varsity hurling career, winning a Fitzgibbon medal and acting as selector with UCD in the 1970s. He later played with UCC.^{[citation needed]}

In retirement from playing Burns became involved in team management and coaching. He has served as manager of the Cork minor team on a number of occasions, guiding the team to All-Ireland success in 1998. On retirement from the Barrs he continued to play with Carraig na bhFear where he now lived. He coached Carraig to their first East Cork title in 2008. He also coached the local Rockbán camogie team to county titles on two occasions.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1980s Burns initiated a project to produce a 'Hurling Coaching Manual'. Those involved included Pat Daly, (Croke Park), Ned Power (Waterford) and Brendan O' Sullivan (Kilkenny). The Manual and a follow-up booklet were the coaching materials for the Croke Park coaching initiatives in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

Burns also served on the Croke Park 'Hurling Committee' for two terms in the 1990s. During their term the back door was introduced for beaten provincial finalists and work initiated on the standardisation of sliotars and blood replacements. He also served on the ' Urban Development Committee', Croke Park.^{[citation needed]}