Ireland, Munster in safe hands

Anthony Foley back with Ireland, Niall O’Donovanagain part of the Munster set-up.

They may be only temporary arrangements but, in both cases, it proves that the game in this country remains in safe hands. Foley and O’Donovan go back a long way, to these halcyon days of the All-Ireland League, with Shannon in the 1990s through the emergence of Munster as a major force in the professional game in tandem with Ireland finding their feet in the radical changes overtaking the sport.

Foley captained Munster to Heineken Cup glory, O’Donovan partnered Declan Kidney in the province’s evolution as one of Europe’s finest before going on to becomeEddie O’Sullivan’s forwards coach with the national side. As Foley’s illustrious playing career wound down, O’Donovan assisted O’Sullivan in Ireland’s good and not so good days in the new millennium until the World Cup failure in 2007 changed everything for the genial Limerick man. O’Sullivan and O’Donovan gave way to a new regime to be headed by Kidney.