He won three schools cups with Clongowes and has been part of famous Irish Under-20s wins. He also played for Leinster, Munster, Nottingham, Leicester and Terenure, but Jordan Coghlan would put playing for Clontarf in Sunday’s All-Ireland League final against St Mary’s at the Aviva Stadium as “right up there” with anything else in his varied career.
At 33, he’s playing as well and feeling as fit as he’s ever done. Hence, despite impending fatherhood, rumours of Coghlan’s retirement can seemingly be dispelled. He loves playing and feels he has at least one more season of good rugby in him.
“There was definitely a bit of a struggle at the start of the season, I’m not going to lie,” he says. “So, I’m going to wait to make the decision, maybe after a little bit of down time. But the body is feeling good and I’m in good spirits. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if I did decide to crack on.”
Leinster dismiss pretenders Ulster, Connacht find consistency and Ireland women crush Italy
He and Tess married last summer in Ibiza and were given mortgage approval to buy a house in Malahide sooner than expected. With that in mind, finishing his career in Clontarf – where he first picked up a rugby ball – made sense, logistically and emotionally.
READ MORE
Their first child is due in July. “Can’t bloody wait,” he says. “We’re both just counting down the days now to finally meet him or her. We’re both ecstatic.”
Sunday’s final will be Coghlan’s fourth in five years, having played for Terenure in three successive Aviva Stadium deciders from 2022. He lost the first and won the second, both against Clontarf, before losing the third to Cork Con.
Returning after four years in Terenure was a struggle at first but his prodigal return couldn’t have worked out better.
“I’ve been walking down that long driveway in Castle Avenue since I could walk, whether for cricket or for rugby. So, coming back and seeing all the same old faces in the clubhouse and having all the family down every weekend, including my granny (Mary) and all her mates with the club, it’s been very special.”
His grandfather Tom had been a huge figure at ‘Tarf as a player and supporter. He has uncles, aunts and cousins in the club and has played alongside his cousin Charlie, who was captain of Clontarf’s all-conquering Under-20s last season.
Coghlan is also bridging a 20-year gap, having played with ‘Tarf until becoming a boarder in Clongowes, where he won one Junior Cup and two Senior Cups in a pack with Tadhg Beirne, Conor Gilsenan and Nick McCarthy.
Coghlan scored in the 2011 final win over Roscrea and again when the Irish Under-20s stunned the hosts South Africa at the 2012 Junior World Cup in Cape Town. “It was incredible and we were unfortunate not to beat England in the second game. We were hoping to get through to the finals.”
In a team also featuring Tadhg Furlong, Beirne, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Kieran Marmion and JJ Hanrahan, no wonder. Ireland would beat England (Coghlan scoring again) and France in the playoffs to finish fifth.
He went into the Leinster academy pathway for four seasons from 2011 but was unlucky in his timing. “Joe Schmidt put me in at 12. He saw a vision for me there and I loved it at the time but picked up a couple of knee injuries. That set me back a lot.
“Leinster were absolutely riddled with stars so you couldn’t really see progression as a young fella. You felt like you had nowhere to go.”
He reverted to the backrow for a year under Anthony Foley at Munster but was advised to seek more game time elsewhere. In three seasons at Nottingham he played over 80 games, earning a move to Leicester.
“I loved it there for two seasons but then Covid messed up the whole thing, with game time, new coaches and new players.”
He returned home at a time when his grandad was quite ill.
“So instead of going on to France, which was the plan, I decided to stay home and look after my grandad for about a year, which is when I joined Terenure. I had four great years there. Incredible. They helped me at a difficult time and were so nice to my family. The lads there are all bonkers, so I fitted straight in with all of them.”
But the pull from Clontarf and family remained. The move hasn’t affected his work for the last three years with Xtremepush, a tech company which specialises in a customer engagement platform. The CEO, Tommy Kearns, is a former Clontarf player.
Coghlan also talks about representing family and friends in Clontarf. “When you win, play well and get that reception in the clubhouse, that fuels me every week and it’s going to be hard to walk away from that when I eventually do.”
He appreciates St Mary’s will be the ultimate challenge.
“They’re very good at playing wide rugby. They bring you around the park very well. I fully expected them to be where they were, to be honest.
“It’s going to be a big number-eight battle as well with Dan,” Coghlan said of his counterpart Dan Goggin, a 12 now also playing eight, and a good pal since their Munster days a decade ago.
“I’ll be taking that battle personally with him. Regardless of the result, he’s a good fella and I’m sure I’ll have a beer with them after the match. But I’ll be certainly looking to get one up on him.”
