The flanker has been forced to hang up his boots having failed to recover from a knee injury suffered at the end of last year.
Ronan has been out of action since suffering a knee injury in training last October, an injury that failed to respond to rehabilitation or an operation at Christmas and the Meath man has acted on medical advice and decided to hang up his boots at the end of the season.
Ronan, who joined Munster at the beginning of the 2007/08 season, made over 100 appearances for the province, scoring 16 tries, and was capped for Ireland on four occasions.
The 31-year old informed his teammates at training at UL this morning and released a statement which read: “It has been a huge honour for me to play with such a great team for the past seven years. I’m very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to play with Munster Rugby and I truly enjoyed the experience.
“I would like to thank the supporters, staff, teammates and people of Munster for my time here.
“I would also like to thank my family, friends and former clubs that I played with for all their help and support throughout my career.”
Ronan recently completed a BA in Strength & Conditioning with Setanta College and plans to set up a business in Drogheda in the near future, while also going back to Boyne RFC, the club where it all started.
“I will return to my home town of Drogheda and set up a business in the line of work I’ve studied for, focusing on injury rehabilitation,” Ronan added.
“I believe my experience as a professional rugby player will help me in this regard, and I am looking forward to supporting my old club Boyne RFC from the side-lines, going back to where it all began for me.”
JOE recently had the pleasure of meeting Niall at a recent JOE Rugby Roadshow in Limerick before Munster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Toulouse and found him great company and a gentleman to deal with.
We’d like to wish him all the best in the future.
