Carney at home with Munster family

IT’S HARD to call Brian Carney a surprise signing — Munster have literally been beating down the ex-Rugby League star for years.

The son of a New Yorker father and a mother from Drimoleague, and Cork-born himself, Carney has been on the radar of the Heineken Cup champions for “some time,” say branch sources.

Yet, the timing raised eyebrows as Carney turned his back on a League contract in Australia to, as he said, concentrate on “other areas of his life”.