Declan Pilkington
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| Born | 1969 (age 56–57) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Farmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Hurling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Left corner-forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Declan Pilkington (born 1969) is an Irish former hurler. At club level, he played with Birr and at inter-county level with the Offaly senior hurling team.
Pilkington attended St Brendan's Community School in Birr and played hurling at all levels during his time there. He won back-to-back Leinster Colleges SAHC medals in 1985 and 1986. Pilkington also part of the St Brendan's team that defeated North Monastery by four goals to win the All-Ireland Colleges SAHC title in 1986.[1][2]
At club level, Pilkington was a mainstay of the Birr team during their most successful era. He won nine Offaly SHC medals from twelve finals appearances between 1990 and 2005.[3] He also won seven Leinster Club SHC medal. Pilkington was also part of Birr's four All-Ireland Club SHC title-winning teams.[4]
At inter-county level, Pilkington first appeared for Offaly as part of the minor team that won back-to-back All-Ireland MHC titles in 1986 and 1987.[5] He later progressed to the under-21 team and was one of the team's top scorers during their run to a defeat by Tipperary in the 1989 All-Ireland U21HC final.
Pilkington made his senior team debut in a defeat by Galway in the 1988 All-Ireland SHC semi-final. He went on to win his first two Leinster SHC medals, alongside his brother Johnny, in 1989 and 1990.[6] Pilkington was also part of Offaly's sole National Hurling League title win in 1991.[7] He added further Leinster SHC medals to his collection in 1994 and 1995 and was at left corner-forward when Offaly beat Limerick by 3–16 to 2–13 in the 1994 All-Ireland SHC final.[8] Pilkington left the panel in 1996 after a dispute with manager Éamonn Cregan.[9] He was briefly recalled to the panel two years later.[10]