48 Notable alumni of Maynooth University
Updated: May 31, 2026 EliteDegrees
Maynooth University is ranked #924 in the world and #7 in Ireland by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 48 notable alumni from Maynooth University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Maynooth University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Patrick Morrisroe
1869-1946 (aged 77)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Patrick Morrisroe was an Irish Catholic priest and Bishop of Achonry.
2. Francis Murphy
1795-1858 (aged 63)
Catholic deacon
Catholic bishop
Catholic priest
Bishop Francis Murphy was an Irish-born Roman Catholic priest and first Catholic Bishop of Adelaide, South Australia.
3. Patrick Leahy
1940-. (aged 86)
state's attorney
lawyer
politician
Patrick Leahy was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly.
4. Thomas Gilmartin
1861-1939 (aged 78)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Thomas Patrick Gilmartin was an Irish clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Clonfert from 1909 to 1918 and Archbishop of Tuam from 1918 to 1939.
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5. Eugene O'Connell
1815-1891 (aged 76)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Eugene O'Connell was the first Catholic bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Grass Valley, California. Born in County Cavan, Ireland, O'Connell sailed to San Francisco upon the request of Bishop Alemany for priests to serve in the diocese of Monterey. O'Connell was rector of the diocesan seminary, and later appointed to the Vicariate of Marysville, up in the gold fields....
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6. Henry Cleary
1849-1929 (aged 80)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Henry William Cleary OBE was the sixth Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, from 1910 to 1929.
7. William Walsh
1828-1892 (aged 64)
lawyer
politician
William Walsh was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax. He was born in Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland and died in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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8. James Vincent Cleary
1828-1898 (aged 70)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
James Vincent Cleary was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Kingston, Ontario.
9. John Harty
1867-1946 (aged 79)
Catholic priest
John Mary Harty served as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel from 1913 until his death in 1946. He served as Patron of the Gaelic Athletic Association from 1928. The Dr. Harty Cup, the trophy for Munster Schools Hurling, is named in his honour, as is the playing field of his native Murroe GAA club.
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10. Joseph Higgins
1838-1915 (aged 77)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Joseph Higgins was an Irish-born Catholic bishop in Australia. He was the Bishop of Rockhampton in Queensland and the Bishop of Ballarat in Victoria.
11. Denis Florence MacCarthy
1817-1882 (aged 65)
translator
poet
biographer
writer
Denis Florence MacCarthy was an Irish poet, translator, and biographer.
12. Peter Yorke
1864-1925 (aged 61)
Catholic priest
Peter Christopher Yorke was an American Irish Catholic priest and an Irish Republican and Labor activist in San Francisco.
13. Thomas Joseph Carr
1839-1917 (aged 78)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Thomas Joseph Carr was the second Roman Catholic archbishop of Melbourne, Australia.
14. Daniel Cohalan
1858-1952 (aged 94)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Daniel Cohalan was an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman who served as the Bishop of Cork from 1916 to 1952.
15. Thomas Francis Hendricken
1827-1886 (aged 59)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Thomas Francis Hendricken was an Irish-born American Catholic prelate who served as the first bishop of Providence in Rhode Island from 1872 until his death in 1886. Hendricken started the construction of the current Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.
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16. Thomas Nulty
1818-1898 (aged 80)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
The Most Reverend Dr. Thomas Nulty or Thomas McNulty was born to a farming family in Fennor, Oldcastle, Co. Meath, on 7 July 1818, and died in office as the Irish Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath on Christmas Eve, 1898.
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17. Daniel McGettigan
1815-1887 (aged 72)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Daniel McGettigan was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served Bishop of Raphoe from 1861 to 1870 and Archbishop of Armagh from 1870 to 1887.
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18. Bernie Sherlock
choir director
conductor
Bernie Sherlock is an Irish choral conductor, adjudicator, teacher, and lecturer in music.
19. Gerald O'Donovan
1871-1942 (aged 71)
novelist
Gerald O'Donovan was an Irish priest and writer.
20. William Joseph Walsh
1841-1921 (aged 80)
Catholic priest
William Joseph Walsh served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 3 July 1885 until his death in 1921.
21. Patrick Rice
1945-2010 (aged 65)
human rights defender
Patrick Michael Rice was an Irish human rights activist and former Catholic priest and religious who became a resident of Argentina. He was a campaigner on behalf of the families of the "disappeared", the victims of that nation's dirty war during the 1970s. He himself was kidnapped and tortured as a part of that activity by the Argentine military dictatorship.
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22. William Crean
1951-. (aged 75)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
William Crean is an Irish Roman Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Cloyne and chairperson of Trócaire since 2013.
23. Peter Coffey
1876-1943 (aged 67)
priest
philosopher
Catholic priest
Peter Coffey was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and neo-scholastic philosopher.
24. Anthony O'Regan
1809-1866 (aged 57)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Anthony O'Regan was an Irish Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Chicago from 1854 to 1858.
25. Dermot Dunne
1959-. (aged 67)
Anglican priest
Dermot Patrick Martin Dunne is the current and, by some counts, 35th Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
26. Fergus O'Dowd
1948-. (aged 78)
politician
Fergus O'Dowd is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Louth constituency from 2002 to 2024. He was appointed Chair of the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in September 2020. He previously served as Chair of the Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport from 2017 to 2020 and...
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27. Patrick Augustine Sheehan
1852-1913 (aged 61)
Catholic priest
Christian minister
politician
writer
Patrick Augustine Sheehan was an Irish Catholic priest, author and political activist. He was usually known as Canon Sheehan after his 1903 appointment as a canon of the diocese of Cloyne, or more fully as Canon Sheehan of Doneraile, after the town of Doneraile where he wrote almost all of his major works and served as parish priest.
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28. Joseph MacRory
1861-1945 (aged 84)
university teacher
Catholic bishop
Catholic priest
Joseph Cardinal MacRory was an Irish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Armagh from 1928 until his death. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1929. He is regarded as the leading Catholic churchman in Ireland during the period spanning the 1916 Rising, Partition, and the Second World War.
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29. John Lyons
1977-. (aged 49)
politician
John Lyons is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency from 2011 to 2016.
30. John MacHale
1791-1881 (aged 90)
author
Catholic deacon
Catholic priest
John MacHale was the Irish Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, and Irish nationalist.
31. Jim Daly
1961-. (aged 65)
evangelist
Jim Daly is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People from 2017 to 2020 and Chair of the Committee on Children and Youth Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South-West constituency from 2011 to 2020.
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32. Peter Richard Kenrick
1806-1896 (aged 90)
Catholic bishop
writer
Catholic priest
Peter Richard Kenrick was an Irish Catholic priest who served as Bishop of St. Louis from 1843 to 1895. The see was made an archdiocese in 1847, when he was called as the first archbishop west of the Mississippi River. The archdiocese covered nearly all the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. He served in this position for nearly 50 years,...
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33. Edward MacCabe
1816-1885 (aged 69)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Edward Cardinal MacCabe or McCabe was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 1879 until his death and a Cardinal from 1882.
34. Michael Griffin
1890-1920 (aged 30)
Catholic priest
Michael Griffin was an Irish Catholic priest who was murdered during the Irish War of Independence.
35. Jack O'Connor
1960-. (aged 66)
Gaelic football player
coach
Jack O'Connor is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player. He has been manager of the senior Kerry county team since 2021, having earlier managed it over two terms in the 2000s.
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36. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
1953-. (aged 73)
politician
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency from 1997 to 2020. Ó Caoláin's victory in 1997 made him the first member of Sinn Féin to be elected to the Dáil since 1957, and the first to actually take their seat since 1922. His election, which paralleled...
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37. Noel Grealish
1965-. (aged 61)
businessperson
politician
Noel Grealish is an Irish independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency since the 2002 general election. He has served as a Minister of State since January 2025.
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38. Geraldine Byrne Nason
1959-. (aged 67)
diplomat
Geraldine Byrne Nason is an Irish diplomat who is currently Ambassador of Ireland to the United States of America.
39. Michael J. O'Doherty
1874-1949 (aged 75)
Catholic priest
Michael James O'Doherty was an Irish prelate and was the 27th Archbishop of Manila in the Philippines. O'Doherty was Archbishop of Manila for 33 years from 1916 until his death in 1949, making him the longest to hold the post, serving through the difficult years of the Japanese occupation and the Second World War.
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40. Michael Logue
1840-1924 (aged 84)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Michael Cardinal Logue was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1887 until his death in 1924. He was appointed a cardinal in 1893.
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41. Barry Ward
1981-. (aged 45)
film actor
actor
television actor
Barry Ward is an Irish actor. He began his career in the RTÉ/BBC series Family and Plotlands (1997), and the film Sunburn (1999). His films since include Jimmy's Hall, Blood Cells (both 2014), Extra Ordinary (2019), and Dating Amber (2020), the latter of which won him an IFTA.
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42. Brian Friel
1929-2015 (aged 86)
theatrical director
politician
writer
playwright
translator
Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett,...
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43. Eimear Quinn
1972-. (aged 54)
singer
Eimear Mary Rose Quinn is an Irish singer and composer. She is best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "The Voice". Since then she has toured and performed extensively internationally and has released four albums of her work, the most recent being Ériu, recorded with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and released in 2020.
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44. Hermann Kelly
1968-. (aged 58)
newspaper editor
Hermann Patrick Kelly is an Irish anti-immigration activist, politician, press officer and former journalist. He served as president of the far-right Irish Freedom Party (IFP) from its foundation in September 2018. As of October 2025, Kelly's leadership of the IFP was reportedly in dispute. Kelly has worked as an assistant to the Romanian MEP Cristian Terheș and Danish MEP Anders...
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45. Daniel Mannix
1864-1963 (aged 99)
Catholic priest
Catholic bishop
Daniel Patrick Mannix was an Irish-born Australian Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia.
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46. Chris Andrews
1964-. (aged 62)
politician
Chris Andrews is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has served as a senator for the Labour Panel since January 2025. He was previously a Fianna Fáil politician and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-East constituency from 2007 to 2011, then, after a gap of nine years, he was a Sinn Féin TD for the Dublin Bay South...
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47. Joe McHugh
1971-. (aged 55)
politician
Joe McHugh is an Irish former Fine Gael politician from Carrigart, County Donegal. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal North-East constituency from 2007 to 2016 and the Donegal constituency from 2016 to 2024. He served as a Minister of State from 2014 to 2018 and as Minister for Education and Skills from 2018 to 2020. He...
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48. Seán Gallagher
1962-. (aged 64)
businessperson
reality television participant
Seán Gallagher is an Irish businessman and former reality television personality. He was a co-founder in 2000 of Smarthomes, which after initial success, failed in 2008–2010, and Gallagher departed in 2010–11. He was a panellist on RTÉ's Dragons' Den from 2009 to 2011. Gallagher was an active member of Fianna Fáil for 30 years, from 1981 to 2011, and sat...
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