| Full name | John Michael Thornton Quirke | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 26 June 1944 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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John Michael Thornton Quirke (born 26 June 1944) is an Irish barrister and former international rugby union player of the 1960s. He served as a High Court judge from 1997 to 2012.[1]
Born in Dublin, Quirke was capped three times for Ireland, with his first two appearances coming in 1962 while a Blackrock College schoolboy.[2] He was still only 17 when he was called up to play scrum-half against England at Twickenham, a surprise selection which caused a great deal of media hype in the week leading up to the match.[3] After performing well in a losing cause, Quirke retained his place for the next match against Scotland, before being discarded. He gained his third cap much later, as a stand in for Brendan Sherry in 1968.[4]