Gerry Thornley: O’Connell Ireland’s most inspiring player ever

As Rob Kearney said aloud on Tuesday, how on earth can you sum up Paul O'Connell's contribution to Irish rugby in 30 seconds? You can't. It's impossible. The same is true of any penned tribute to him. It's almost become blasé to say it, but it's hard to dispute that O'Connell simply was the best Irish forward of all time; the sad part being that now we have to say that in the past tense.

So no perfectly scripted finale before riding off into the sunset, à la Brian O'Driscoll with his farewell Six Nations title in Paris, or Martin Johnson, who lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy in his final Test match, the World Cup final of 2003.

Plenty of the increasingly loud, expanding and optimistic Irish supporters had no doubt imagined the grandest finales for him. Dammit anyway, it was too perfect to be true, and now, of course, Ireland’s chances have suffered arguably the most damaging loss of all.

So now Irish rugby has bade farewell to its two most iconic and talismanic players of all time, in less than a year and a half. It had to happen of course; just a pity it had to be like this. If ever a player deserved to see out a fourth and final World Cup without another bloody injury, it was O’Connell.

Legacy

In any event, in four World Cups apiece – three of them in harness – Ireland have never once reached the semi-finals, and at a week's notice, will now have to do so without either of them. Yet if Ireland do beat Argentina on Sunday and reach the last four, their legacy will have contributed, for sure.

The aim of every player who represents his country is to leave the jersey in better nick than when they first wore it, and my God both of them achieved that and a helluva lot more. How much, for example, has Robbie Henshaw’s seamless transition to the warfare that is midfield Test rugby been helped by O’Driscoll’s inspiring example and personal tutoring? No less than how the demi-God status of their heroes from the 1970s still inspires Welsh rugby players, their influence endures.

O'Connell's influence has been even more profound as captain for the last two-and-a-half seasons under Joe Schmidt, and perhaps, as when his last Lions tour was also cut short after the first Test, such is his leadership and presence that he will be persuaded to remain on a while. But he felt uncomfortable doing so then.

What set O'Connell apart were his abilities as a player and leader. When he first rumbled into the Irish rugby firmament, as a flame-haired, long-striding, galloping, try-scoring lock with Young Munster, as with Malcolm O'Kelly it was clear that something special had arrived. He had that Young Munster dog in him too. He wasn't, perhaps, as naturally gifted or athletic as O'Kelly, but augmented his ferocious energy and strength by making himself into a brilliant lineout operator.

O’Connell is a product of the AIL game who was born for the professional game. A veritable sponge for any information that would improve him and his teams, it was as if his calling was to become the passionate Munster foil to Schmidt’s cerebral guidance, each sharing an unwavering attention to detail.

Leadership

As Peter Stringer wrote in his biography, Pulling the Strings: "Drico provided our creative flair and Paulie our leadership up front. I'd have no hesitation in saying that Paulie was the best Irish forward and Brian was the best back I've ever played with.

“Paulie will never settle for second best in anything he does. He doesn’t let anything slip by. He will do absolutely everything in his power to ensure that he and the team are prepared. If something isn’t right he will not let it be brushed over. He’s totally committed to what he does, in training, in his own preparation and in games.

“He is narky at times, but needs to be. That’s his character. It’s helped him in the role he’s played over the years as a leader and being in control of so many situations both on and off the pitch. You look at him in the dressing-room and he doesn’t even have to say anything. Your game raises itself. It’s just his presence. He will be missed incredibly by Munster and Ireland. I can’t speak too highly of him.”

A natural-born leader, if ever there was one, O'Connell captained Munster, Ireland and the Lions. History will judge him, rightly, as a wonderful, inspirational captain of Munster, whom he led to their second Heineken Cup success in 2008. We'll never know how many of those miracle wins in Thomond Park and all over Europe would not have been achieved without him, but arguably a fair few.

Players followed him, and he led from the front, whether carrying or coming off the line to make a tackle. In latter years, few players generated such a surge of noise through a crowd and the energy that followed O’Connell could be seismic.

And if his game didn’t inspire, his words did. And then, of course, if they didn’t, as Ronan O’Gara has oft noted, “there were those eyes!”.

Watching him for Munster, it was like watching seven younger brothers playing for their older brother. That you could often throw a blanket over them was largely down to him. Ditto Ireland, for whom he was vice-captain to O’Driscoll in the 2009 Six Nations and rallying point for the pack, and then captain in the last two back-to-back Six Nations titles.

Century

Akin to O’Driscoll, history may judge him unfairly not to have been such a success as Lions captain in 2009 by comparison to, say, Martin Johnson and Sam Warburton. But his leadership went some way to preventing a first whitewash in South Africa for over a century with their win in the third Test, and it wasn’t his fault that the wrong front five were picked for the first Test.

After the series, the Welsh flanker Martyn Williams wrote that O’Connell was the best captain he ever played under. And he played under Johnson.

O’Connell completely divested of himself emotionally on that tour. He gave everything he had. He looked drained for about a year, and in 2010 he was sidelined for nine months with a groin injury that became infected. There would be knee injuries, and then a back operation.

Resilient

Akin to the other fella, not the least of his achievements is to have endured so long while maintaining such high standards, for those kind of injuries might have finished lesser men. But he was utterly and remarkably resilient too.

You’d hope he’ll recover one more time and have his Indian summer in the Côte d’Azur with Toulon. Maybe that will lead toward his first steps into coaching. No less than his time as a player, if he chooses that route, he’ll leave no stone unturned to make himself the best he can be. He’s been a quasi player-coach for years anyhow. He’d bring nothing less than total honesty and devotion to his job. Yeah, you’d imagine he’d be brilliant at that too.

Superman indeed, and in deed and word, no Irish player has been more inspiring.