Mighty Quinny not done just yet

RUGBY:Tonight's clash at Thomond Park marks Alan Quinlan's 200th game for Munster, writes GERRY THORNLEY

AKIN TO the even more low-key John Hayes, the other old-timer in the Munster squad, Alan Quinlan, doesn’t like too much of a fuss being made of him. Unlike the Bull, however, the Mighty Quinny tends to attract attention. That’s been his way, and this evening there’ll be no avoiding it.

Tonight, fittingly at Thomond Park, marks his 200th game for Munster. Quite a landmark. The boy from Clanwilliam done well. He’s had his tough times. He’s had more than his share of injuries. He’s occasionally fought the law too and, of course, the law has won. But that’s been his way too.

He’s a total one-off; a throwback to the last days of the amateur era, a product of junior club rugby in Tipperary and Shannon’s peerless talent identification and player development. You could never pigeon-hole Quinlan. Aside from the lineout dexterity, the tackling and ball-carrying, he’s an innate footballer, who reads the game, comes up with the big plays – be it a quick tap, a well-timed pick-and-go, a catch as an auxiliary fullback or even a kick ahead – that influences games.

At 36, the rampaging dynamic bursts in the open may not be so commonplace, but he’s even more streetwise now and was often one of Munster’s most influential players last season. Take the Heineken Cup final pool game against Northampton last season.

Romain Poite was driving everybody nuts. Paul O’Connell had just been binned on 60 minutes. Northampton had a sequence of attacking scrums. Munster, leading by just 9-6, were hanging on by their fingernails. Cometh the hour, and all that. Quinlan took control, went into the secondrow, and the seven-man scrum held on as Munster won 12-9.

There have been times when Quinlan and the rest of the core group over the last decade or more could have gone abroad, in the pre-Charlie McCreevy tax rebate years. He, apparently, could have gone to Leinster last season. But their loyalty and success are interwoven, He made his debut in November ’96 against Samoa at Musgrave Park and the following season became a regular in their Heineken Cup team.

His and their timing, emerging on the scene just as professionalism and the Heineken Cup were coming on board, were perfect. “I give Declan Kidney a lot of credit. When the Heineken Cup journey started, and we all started as professionals in 1997, nobody gave us a chance. The Irish were seen as teams who would give it a lash and get an odd big scalp here and there, but we were lucky that a lot of excellent players who were there at one time had an ambition to be better and push each other,” he says.

“Year after year we improved, and I think that’s probably the most satisfying thing, that I played with so many great friends who were there from the start. All the great players beforehand, like Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) and Claw (Peter Clohessy) didn’t get the opportunity to win a Heineken Cup final. But we never forgot the history and pride of the Munster jersey, and creating something ourselves. Everybody bought into that bond. It’s just been an amazing journey.”

It is, he admits, a great life, getting paid for something you love doing. Any wonder that he doesn’t want to give it up just yet. Sometimes, he admits to wondering where the years and all those matches have gone. Only Anthony Foley has played more times for Munster, and he’s on 201, so Quinlan ought to overtake him before long.

“To be honest, it’s not something I’ve been looking at or thinking about. I’m not a big one for stats, or looking back at games or over-analysing the past. I didn’t actually realise it until Pat Geraghty (the Munster PRO) said it to me in the last couple of weeks. I’m really proud of it, it’s special for myself and my family, and my clubs, Clanwilliam and Shannon. I owe a lot to the people who helped, especially in Clanwilliam when I started out there.”

Growing up, he concedes, his ambition had always been to play hurling for Tipperary. Nicky English had taught him in school and his parents, John and Marie, brought them to all Tipperary’s matches. A turning point was when he was selected for the Munster Youths (Under-18s).

“We went to Limerick for a trial one day and I got selected for the Munster Youths and went on to captain the team and the Irish team as well. It was then that I attracted a bit of attention from clubs in Limerick and I went to Shannon. I probably realised it was something I was quite good at.”

He continued to play hurling and football with Arravale Rovers in Tipperary for a few years, and revelled in Tipp’s win over Kilkenny last Sunday week. “They gave everyone a lift in the county, just in the manner they beat such a great team.”

He was especially delighted for one Tipp player, namely Benny Dunne, who had been sent off in last year’s final but made a point-scoring appearance last Sunday week as a replacement.

“I could relate to his pain,” says Quinlan, “certainly with the Lions thing and a few things that have happened to me in my career, probably through my own fault.”

Alas, there was no such chance for redemption in Quinny’s case after missing out on the 2009 Lions due to a 12-week suspension for making contact with the eye area of Leo Cullen. “It was the lowest point of my career and I’ll probably never really fully recover from it because I was just unbelievably happy and excited about being picked initially. I think I could have accepted it if I’d picked up an injury. It was a devastating blow really but as I’ve always said, it was my own fault and something I have to deal with and live with.”

But, ala Roy Keane, Quinny has always played on the edge. “Yeah, I suppose I would be very competitive, it’s probably lack of control at times, and maybe by playing on the edge going over the edge. It’s something in my make-up and it’s certainly cost me a bit in my career but on the other side of the coin it’s probably helped me in my career to have a lot of good days as well. I don’t want to see any more trouble before I finish my career, I can assure you of that,” he adds, allowing himself a little chuckle.

Tipp’s win also “reminded me of us” as he puts it, in bouncing back from previous defeats in the final to reach their Holy Grail. For Quinlan, as meaningful was “the way the whole support built up over the years and the affect the whole Munster journey had on people’s lives” when they won the Heineken Cup in 2006 and ’08.

His achievement in earning a few minutes on the pitch in the ’06 final, even without touching the ball (and also winning a fifth AIB League medal with Shannon), was remarkable considering he had sustained a cruciate ligament injury away to Sale the previous October.

But if that was a reward for his resilience and painstaking powers of recovery, to play a starring role in the knock-out wins over Gloucester, Saracens and finally Toulouse (when chosen as Man of the Match) was more fulfilling.

“I was really proud of myself in ’06; I pushed myself really hard behind the scenes, probably to a level I didn’t think I could have achieved or even got to. A lot of people helped but I felt so sorry for Stephen Keogh for losing out, but my biggest fear was ‘f***, the lads are going to win this and we might never get the opportunity again’, so I was fortunate and thankful.

“To be in on the team in ’08, and to probably have my best season for Munster in a while that year, after the disappointment of the (2007) World Cup, was unbelievable and really fulfilling,” says Quinlan, an unused squad member in that dismal World Cup sojourn in France.

Currently on a one-year deal, he isn’t inclined to look beyond that. He feels good physically, is enjoying it as much as ever, and the fire still burns. He particularly enjoys the media work he has begun to dabble in, notably with RTÉ television and BBC radio.

He also has one or two business ideas. Along with Federico Mendez, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara, he has shares in a wine import business as well as a bio-diesel plant in Argentina, while he is very intent on becoming involved in a charity.

“I feel that with our profile there might be an opportunity to bring some awareness to a charity and give me a bit of fulfilment as well.” But, as he says, he’s not looking too far ahead. “I want to enjoy each day as it comes and cherish – because it could be my last year – the time I have playing now and maximise the time, and every time I go out on the pitch do the best I can.”

Maybe all those injuries, and one or two suspensions, have helped and Quinlanhasn’t given up hope of a clarion call to arms for a fourth World Cup next year. Donncha O’Callaghan chides him that he’ll outlast everybody and even has plans on playing in 2015.

The biggest single change he’s seen is how much standards have improved “right across the board, and there’s so much more money in the game. Before you might have the odd easy game, but not any more, and some of the games are of Test match intensity. So it’s become much more difficult to come out on top of so many teams who are all striving for success and all have very good set-ups.

“But the ambition to have that success is still there with Munster, even though it’s much more difficult. We still want to lift silverware. That’s why I’m still playing.”

The boy from Clanwilliam and his Munster mates ain’t finished yet.

Alan Quinlan

Date Of Birth: July 13th, 1974.

Birthplace: Tipperary.

School: Abbey CBS, Tipperary.

Height: 1.91 m (6ft 3in).

Weight: 105 kg (16st 7 lb).

Position: Backrow/lock.

Honours: Ireland – 27 caps (5 tries). Munster – 199 caps (75 H Cup, 97 ML/CL, 3 C Cup, 17 Interpros, 7 friendlies), 30 tries. Two Heineken Cup winners medals and two Magners/Celtic Leagues.

Clubs: Clanwilliam RFC and Shannon (5 AIB League winners medals).