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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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JJ Hanrahan of Connacht in action during the United Rugby Championship match between Dragons and Connacht at Rodney Parade in Newport, Wales. Photo by Chris Fairweather/Sportsfile
The province’s third-highest points-scorer of all-time with 743 points in 142 appearances, the Castleisland man will return in the summer having departed for Clermont Auvergne in 2021.
The former Rockwell College out-half, who can also play in the centre and at full-back, has spent the last two seasons at Connacht where he has scored 145 points in 23 appearances to date. He recently returned to action after recovering from a knee injury.
READ MORE: All the sporting action is here
The 32-year-old made his Munster debut against Dragons in September 2012 and won the province’s Young Player of the Year award in 2014. An 88.71% success rate off the tee also saw Hanrahan win the 2014 PRO12 Golden Boot Award.
After making 64 appearances in three seasons, he joined Northampton Saints in 2015 before returning to Munster in 2017.
READ MORE: All the GAA fixtures for the weekend are here
Hanrahan marked his 100th Munster appearance with a Player of the Match performance in the win over Benetton in April 2019 and kicked the winning penalty from the halfway line against the same opponents in the PRO14 quarter-final.
READ MORE: Munster sign up key players
He won the PRO14 Golden Boot for the second time in the 2019/20 season having landed 50/55 kicks in the regular season.
He starred in Munster’s first-ever win away to Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel Michelin in December 2020 and was 100% accurate off the tee, scoring 24 points in the 39-31 comeback victory.
At the end of that season, Hanrahan joined Clermont and spent a year in France before returning to the URC with Dragons in 2022/23.
He has spent the last two seasons with Connacht and will return home to Munster this summer.
Hanrahan is the fourth new signing for 2025/26 along with centre Dan Kelly, prop Michael Milne and hooker Lee Barron.
Five Academy players have been confirmed so far to be moving up to the senior squad next season: Fionn Gibbons, Shay McCarthy, Evan O’Connell, Ruadhán Quinn and Kieran Ryan.
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