Sean Cronin has confirmed he will retire from rugby at the end of this season. 

The Leinster hooker - who also won 72 Irish caps - is to take up the head coach role with Dublin-based AIL side St Mary's College.

The 35-year-old joined Leinster from Connacht in 2011 and has gone on to play for the province on 204 occasions.

Cronin won two Champions Cup medals with the eastern province, as well as six league titles.

“It has been a unique journey for me starting off in Limerick many years ago, travelling to Galway to set my sights on playing professionally and finishing in Dublin where it’s been an incredible 11 years of so many great days in blue and green.

“I’ve been blessed to experience so many of those great days in my career.

“Like any profession, you mix the highs with the lows, but it’s how I turned those low points around which is something I look back on with great pride and appreciation.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do something I love for a living and this would not have been possible without the support of so many people along the way who believed in my potential and gave me the opportunity to succeed in the game."

Cronin says he's excited to see what the future holds as he embarks on a coaching career.

“Next season I will be taking over as head coach of St Mary’s College RFC where I look forward to developing my coaching aspirations along with furthering my education in the financial field, but most importantly spending time with my family.”

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen paid tribute to Cronin, saying he has left "an incredible legacy not only on Leinster Rugby but across all of the clubs he has played for and of course with Ireland.

“I was lucky enough to have played and roomed with Nugget over the years along with coaching him more recently and he will definitely go down as one of the great characters. He will be hugely missed.

“In his time with Leinster, I think it is fair to say that he broke the mould for how a modern day hooker should play and what their role should be.

"In 204 appearances for Leinster, he has 45 tries to his name which speaks for itself but it was also around what he brought to the wider environment."