St Mary's College RFC Yearbook 2020-21

Paul has developed a successful business
career too. He worked with Smurfit Ireland’s
distribution company “Masser Hammond” as
area manager until his rugby retirement in
1989. Then after the Lions tour, he founded a
Licensing company (TopLion Sportswear Ltd)
to manufacture, sell and distribute
sportswear in Ireland. He has since sold his
interests in TopLion and set up as a Sports
Trade Consultant in 2013. He founded
Sportsaware Ltd 2016.
While with TopLion he has been an important
and appreciated sponsor to his club, St
Mary’s College RFC.
With all that going on, it is hard to see what
else he could have been doing. He was in fact
also extremely busy with rugby in another
way. He was assistant coach to the Leinster
Senior Team for 5 seasons. He was a member
of the Leinster Rugby Professional Game’s
Board. He just recently stepped down as
manager of the Senior Irish Rugby Team,
2016–2020. He is currently a member of the
IRFU Commercial and Marketing Committee.
And recently he has been honoured to enter
the highly prestigious Leinster Rugby’s Hall of
Fame.
His own club honoured him in 2000-01. This
was the centenary season of St Mary’s
College RFC. Paul was president that season.
He was the youngest president in the club’s
history. He enjoyed that periodexceptionally
well. The seasons running up to and during
his presidency was a time of great interest in
AIL rugby and the club famously won the AIL
in season 1999-2000 when Paul was vice
president to Brendan Spring, then president.
It was too, a time of high levels of social
interaction between clubs, with most
enjoyable trips around the entire island.
Deano revelled in this social interaction and
was an extremely popular and effective
ambassador for St Marys. He also showed the
other side of his magical hands. On many an
eve of match night, after a pleasant meal and
a surfeit of Spike’s jokes, Deano would get up
and give a scintillating show of magic. He is
an esteemed member of the Magic Circle. He
performed all sorts of magic and prestidigitation;
he had a particular display of
lights being eaten, ending up in gentlemen’s
pockets hanging out of the ceiling and so on.
There was no end to his magic. He once
turned a cow into a field. Then, one evening,
a particular alickadoo was being somewhat
troublesome - Deano made him disappear,
never to be seen again!
There is no doubt but that he has a great deal
more to do and enjoy, much of that it is
hoped, will be done and enjoyed at his club,
where he remains a popular star and is a life
honorary member. Deano! Deano!
D. O’Brien
Paul Dean in action
against Romania,
1st November 1986.
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