RUGBY/ SEÁN O'BRIEN INTERVIEW: Gerry Thornleytalks to the Leinster flanker who is continually restating his claims for a continuing presence in the Irish 22
THE FIRST of a new documentary series focusing on six young men from Tullow ran last Monday night and Seán O’Brien was, no doubt, not the only Tullow native who was not amused. He knows a couple of the six men in question, and the general impression conveyed of a town with little else to do but drink has neither enamoured him with his erstwhile mates or the programme makers.
“Ah, it’s brutal. I’m going to send a few messages now because it’s terrible. It creates a terrible perception.”
The clue is in the title: Stone Cold Sober, as it endeavours to see how the lads can cope with going on the dry. That one of the six could be seen wearing a Leinster jersey did little to lighten O'Brien's mood, and while he conveys his views with good humour, he was clearly in a rage watching the programme.
“I was angry watching it. I was like ‘I can’t believe they’re saying this stuff’. There’s loads to do, and Carlow town is there. There are omniplexes and bowling and golf courses everywhere. There are shooting ranges around and, you know, just get off your arse and do something. All small towns are the exact same.”
Indeed, the sight of young Irish men spending much of their time drinking in a pub is hardly a uniquely Tullow phenomenon. O’Brien would contend there’s more to do there than in most Irish towns, and aside from the clay pigeon shooting he spends time on the family farm when he goes home – as was the case with a free week prior to last week’s cancelled game with Glasgow.
O’Brien is proud of where he comes from, not just that he hails from Ardristan, about two and a half miles outside Tullow, but that he came through Tullow RFC and Tullow Community School via the Leinster Youths and Irish Youths scene, a la the likes of Trevor Brennan, Shane Horgan and Niall Ronan. It’s a less travelled route but all the more commendable for that and all the better for Leinster if he helps inspire more to do the same.
O’Brien is the third of five children, along with Stephen, Caroline, William and Alexandra, who were reared by Seán and Kaye on the family farm. Sports mad, Seán Snr was his initial source of inspiration. His father was a number eight who converted to prop with Tullow and coached the Ballon/Rathoe Community Games under-11 team on which O’Brien first played competitive rugby.
Their first match in those games, ironically, was against Tullow, after which he began playing with the Tullow under-12s, quickly breaking into the South-East Leinster Under-14s and Under-16s, and then the Leinster and Irish Youths.
As well as all his representative honours, he continued playing his first sport, Gaelic football, with Ballon/Rathoe Gaelic club, as a midfielder and made the Carlow minor panel, as well as hurling and somehow found time to play soccer (a centre half) with Burrin Celtic. “When I was in secondary school I was training every single day,” he recalls with a smile. “Anything, you name it. I played anything.”
O’Brien firmly believes young Irish rugby players who also played Gaelic invariably have better hand-eye co-ordination and ball-handling skills. The evidence would also suggest they are harder sportsmen for the experience – O’Brien being a case in point – although he puts that down to “coming from the country”.
Tullow CS only began a rugby team when he was in fifth year, although they won the Plate in his first year and he also made three appearances for the Leinster A schools team. “The coaches didn’t want to know me, to be honest with you. I remember training in Wilson’s College one day and the scrumhalf wouldn’t give me the ball. So I just started picking up balls at the back of rucks and just taking off.”
Sounds entirely plausible.
Being made captain of the Irish Youths in a round-robin tournament against Scotland, Wales and England was a turning point. “I said to myself, ‘here, I want to do this’, and then it kind of kicked off from there.”
It was in Ebbw Vale and all his family, along with his girlfriend at the time and brother-in-law, were there for what remains one of the proudest days of his burgeoning career. Ireland beat Scotland 9-3 and, “I scored a try, at the end of the first half, I think. It was the worst day I’ve ever played rugby in, I’d say. It was spilling rain and the pitch was just pure muck. I have a picture at home of me getting up after scoring it and you can’t even see me in it.”
Lenny Brown and Wille Gribbin were the coaches, and Richie Murphy was also involved, which prompted Collie McEntee to bring him into the Leinster Academy and to UCD, where he has recently completed a Diploma in Sports Management.
“John McLean looked after me very well (at UCD). It was a whole new scene and a whole new world for me at the time. I was living away from home for the first time and I’d be a real home boy. I was living on campus and training every morning. I enjoyed every minute of it.”
It wasn’t without its hiccups too, and he recalls one day in the gym in pre-season with the academy in the shed in Old Belvedere. “I was doing the weights session and after the weights session I just looked up at Collie and Richie and I just said ‘I can’t do this’. But they said ‘you can do it, all right. That evening we had a 10k or something and I actually thought I was going to die after it! And I was never so glad to see an ice bath in my life. But about two or three weeks into it I felt unbelievably fit.”
Last season was his breakthrough campaign, making nine starts for Leinster and 10 more off the bench. “I had a great pre-season. I think that was the makings of it. I felt very strong and fit again and sorted out my game. I did lots of video sessions with the coaches and just started learning gradually and I think that’s why when I got my chances I was doing the right things.”
There was a barnstorming, try-scoring man-of-the-match performance in only his third start, and first full 80 minutes, in a 29-13 win over the Dragons. Since then he’s been persistently banging on Michael Cheika’s door. A dynamic ball-carrier, whose work at the breakdown is improving all the while, he acknowledges he needs to have “a bit more smartness in defence”, which if anything seems the product of over-enthusiasm at times. But he consistently comes up with big plays to influence matches, he’s mentally strong, not remotely fearful of reputations, and buys into and brings an indigenous freshness to the culture generated by Cheika.
All teams need the injection of local youth to flourish, witness his approach: “I don’t think about the game too much, just go out and play. In my position you need to know what the opposition are going to do but then when it’s our turn to attack just play the game.”
Shane Jennings’ misfortune was O’Brien’s good luck, and in addition to appearing in 12 of Leinster’s 13 games to date, and starting nine of them, following Denis Leamy’s injury he also won his first caps, against Fiji and South Africa. By the same token, despite his continuing upward graph this season, he remains humble and modest.
Now it’s O’Brien’s misfortune that last week’s postponement of the Glasgow game has compelled Cheika to give Jennings a start today. But he’ll assuredly have a good 20 or 30 minutes today, and there’ll be more chances to restate his claims for a continuing presence in the Ireland 22.
In his two lengthy appearances to date for Ireland, totalling 75 minutes, Ireland have scored 37 points without reply. He replaced Leamy after 45 minutes against Fiji when the score was 13-6, with Ireland eventually winning 41-6, and replaced Stephen Ferris at half-time against the Springboks, from which point Ireland turned a 10-6 deficit into a 15-10 win. He laughs off the chance to claim any of the credit. Against Fiji at the RDS, “There was a lot of intensity when I came on and it suited me on that day. There was a bit more go forward and things started happening for us then.”
Playing against, and beating, the world champions at a capacity Croke Park, all the more so given his roots, was the real deal. “It was a great day for me and my family and just everyone, I was delighted to be a part of it. South Africa in Croke Park, it doesn’t get much bigger does it? I knew I was kind of coming on before half-time. He (Ferris) said he wasn’t great so when I walked into the dressingroom Declan said ‘get ready’. I had my mind kind of ready then at that stage so I just said to myself I’d go out and just work hard. That’s all I wanted to do and you know it was grand. I really enjoyed that day.”
Thus far then, no signs of second-season syndrome, although with his recent achievements comes more tests. His bar has been raised and he knows it. “I can’t afford to give myself a pat on the back or anything. I know I have to bring it to another level now again, and build and build and build and keep learning and hopefully every chance I get I’ll take it. If I have a bad game I know there’s someone going to come in front of me and that’s what keeps you driven.”
Driven all right.
