Boost for Munster as Flannery and Quinlan sign

JERRY FLANNERY and Alan Quinlan have followed Paul O’Connell by agreeing terms that will keep them with Munster, respectively, for three and two years.

Flannery (27) has extended his contract with the IRFU up to the end of the season 2008/09, while Quinlan (31) has signed up until the end of the 2007/08 campaign.

Flannery, who is set to win his fifth international cap against Scotland on Saturday, won his 40th Munster cap in the Heineken Cup victory over Sale.

Quinlan, who has been capped 23 times at international level, has made 114 appearances for Munster since, making his debut in 1996. He is currently recovering from an injury sustained in the opening Heineken Cup game against Sale Sharks, but is not ruling out a return to action before the end of this season.

The new contract is the latest fillip for Flannery, who has propelled himself into the position of first-choice hooker for club and country - with the injury to Frankie Sheehan and the dip in form experienced by Shane Byrne.

His first senior cap came with the win over Romania last November, but Flannery has since grown into the role, and was many peoples’ choice as man of the match in the roller-coaster defeat to France in Paris.

The Shannon man points out that it took time to raise himself to the pace and standard of Six Nations rugby - in the opening win against Italy - but that the games against France and Wales have helped him work his way into his own groove.

“A player needs to be confident enough just to step in and play his own game. Maybe in the Italy game I stood off just a bit, maybe I was moving a bit laterally from ruck to ruck, to ruck. I got my hands on the ball a bit more against France, even though it was such a hard game to read.

“I’m comfortable there now. I’m enjoying it. You sort of find a niche for yourself in the team. Playing with Munster is different to playing with Ireland,” he said.

“You need to get a few games under you before you can really find out what it that you can offer.”

Flannery rejects the notion that he was the best player on the park in the Stade de France, redirecting the plaudits in the direction of Shane Horgan and Peter Stringer, but his impact can’t be underestimated for Munster and Ireland this season.

With just four caps to his name, fans and media alike are still trying to find a category in which to put the new man. One comparison has been with Ciaran Fitzgerald, perhaps due to Flannery’s unruly mop of fair hair as much as his style of play.

“I dunno, I haven’t really seen much of him play,” is Flannery’s response. “I used to watch a lot of Keith Wood when I was younger. You try to see what other fellas are doing well and bring some of that into your game.

“You’ve got big, huge guys like [Steve] Thompson, quick, bullocking forwards. Then you’ve got guys like Keith Wood, dynamic around the field. I think I’m just more a kind of a work-rate player, like an extra flanker. Thompson would be an extra prop.”

Meanwhile, Munster have also appointed Tony McGahan to the role previously held by Graham Steadman, who is now the national defence coach.

Australian-born McGahan, who will be 34 in July, comes to Munster from leading Japanese Club side IBM. Prior to that, his coaching experience included stints with the Australia A side, the Brisbane Broncos (League) and coaching coordinator with the Australian U19 World Cup Squad.

He played League rugby with Brisbane Broncos, having also represented Queensland Schoolboys and Eastern Districts at Union.