A mentoring scheme is getting Ireland's stars in business and in rugby to buddy up with an eye to the future, writes JOANNE HUNT

‘IT’S ALMOST like we’re dating at the moment, to be quite honest with you,’ says entrepreneur Emmet O’Neill of the new 14 stone, 6ft 2in man in his life.

An alumni of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year programme, O’Neill’s date is none other than Ireland’s best young outhalf Jonathan Sexton – but what has this 30-year-old dental chain chief executive and Ireland’s big right boot getting so cosy?

“It’s about allowing players to connect with and learn from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in Ireland,” says Frank O’Keeffe partner in charge of an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) mentoring scheme.

Meeting Ireland rugby coach Declan Kidney and team manager Paul McNaughton, O’Keeffe and Aer Arann chief executive and Entrepreneur of the Year judge Pádraig Ó Céidigh talked about what they could do to help prepare players for life after rugby.

The result is a programme that’s getting Ireland’s stars in business and in rugby to buddy up.

“It’s about opening their minds and challenging them,” says O’Keeffe.

“The entrepreneur can coach them around their individual brands, the opportunities they see now but more importantly, what they are thinking about doing in the future.”

But does a young player in his prime like Sexton even think about life after rugby?

“You know, at my age, probably not so much as the guys that are in their 30s,” says the former St Mary’s star.

“I hopefully have a good few more years left in me. But to get an entrepreneur’s experiences on things to look out for even while you are still playing, it can help you to be ready for when you retire.”

Sexton’s pairing with Smiles Dental chief executive O’Neill who is just seven years his senior seems like a good fit.

Both south Dublin boys with a passion for rugby, they seem happy with their match.

“I was thrilled to be asked, and I was very lucky to get Johnny,” says O’Neill.

“At the moment, he is a really high profile guy and he’s getting a lot of things put to him but, also, he’s got to think about what happens after this, in eight or nine years time when his rugby career is over.

“I would like him to think he could ask my opinion, you know, that he could trust me – there’s nothing in it for me so an unbiased view of what he is offered,” says O’Neill.

And Sexton, it seems, is a model charge – juggling his finals in a BComm at UCD while producing for Leinster week in, week out.

“I could have an exam in the morning and a Heineken Cup game in the afternoon” – the outhalf’s focus is obviously not a problem.

“It’s just interesting to hear how Emmet ended up doing what he is doing,” says Sexton. “He saw a gap in the market and set up a practice and it’s obviously gone very well for him.

“Thats the kind of opportunity meeting these guys might open up for us,” he says.

“We might see a gap in the market and we will have some great advice from these guys to help us along.”

Having had two root canals on a front tooth knocked out on the pitch, it’s a match that might come to be fortuitous on many levels.

While, for Sexton, retirement is a lifetime away, he’ll be keeping an eye on his high profile team mates likely to hang up their boots soon.

“I suppose the first professionals are still playing and a few of them have just retired and maybe they are not as prepared for life after rugby as the current guys will be.”

At the ripe young age of 35, backrower David Wallace is technically closer to the career change, though crowned Magner’s League final man of the match in May, you would never think it.

Matched with Jim Barry, managing director of Cork-based wholesale and distribution company the Barry Group, the Cork businessman takes his role as mentor seriously.

“I think my function is to get David thinking about life after rugby because I know if I were in the middle of rugby, I wouldn’t be thinking about life after it,” says Barry.

“One of the points I’ve made is, you need to probably create nearly as much money as you are on now for about 30 more years, that’s the harsh reality.”

But surely it can’t be assumed that every single squad member wants to swap their shorts for business slacks?

“We all have different personalities and skill bases,” says Barry.

“What’s in my head is that we’ll get some profiles done on David to give us a good indication of what he is suitable for.

“If we can figure out in the first 12 months what David would like to do and what he is suitable for, the second 12 months will be trying to assist him and open doors for him,” he says.

And as we get to the day before the Ireland versus France clash at the Aviva, what does mighty Munster man Wallace have to say about life after rugby?

Well, nothing actually.

With a hamstring niggle to get sorted before his seasonal reappearance, an understandable media blackout was drawn down by management to help him focus solely on Les Bleus.

As it happened, the training ground niggle was enough to keep Wallace from playing at the weekend but the chances are Barry will see little of him until after Ireland’s rugby world cup has run its course in New Zealand.

For now, it is all about the present.