Cool Cat Dowling on right track

IT all began for Ian Dowling on a lovely spring afternoon in 2004.

Shannon were taking on Cork Constitution in the AIB League Final at Lansdowne Road. The Kilkennyman, 23 at the time, was a Shannon substitute and to be so close to the action at his theatre of dreams was a thrill in itself.

And then, with 15 minutes to go, he got the call to enter the fray and by day’s end Dowling had his first AIL medal and kick-started a rugby career that seemed stuck in neutral.

As a Kilkenny native, it was hardly surprising that hurling took precedence over all other sporting activities and he was a useful performer with O’Loughlin Gaels in his youth. However, he played rugby at Kilkenny CBS and as winter came round packed away the hurleys and turned out with Kilkenny RFC.

“The seasons started overlapping as I got older and by the time I came to UL, it ended up that I needed to make a choice for they were both getting too competitive,” he recalls.

“I chose rugby because I was better at that than hurling. That may seem strange for a Kilkenny lad but the truth is that the standard of hurling there compared to other counties like Cork and Limerick is so high that it was wisest to look elsewhere,” he said laughing.

Seven years ago, he was a member of a Kilkenny RFC side that almost made it into the AIL but on arriving in Limerick to study Sports Science, he was spotted and sent towards Shannon by Mick Galwey.

“I felt I wanted to make the next step and there’s no better place than Shannon to do that,” says Dowling. “Gaillimh is actually married to Joan, my old primary school teacher, and he was seen around the rugby club and was a big influence on me going to Shannon. He told me they would look after me, that their track record spoke for itself.

“Geoff Moylan was coach when I went there first and for a while I felt out of my depth. I was planning to do dual status Shannon and Kilkenny but ended up going gung ho with Kilkenny for another season. But it was Shannon the following season and getting on at Lansdowne Road increased my appetite and I was really buzzing.”

Dowling, however, was also making a name for himself at Rugby League thanks to the influence of a Kilkenny-based New Zealander called Damian.

“Damian set up the Rugby League team in Kilkenny and it kind of snowballed,” he says.

“I was playing with Kilkenny and then came an Irish junior team and we beat England for the first time up in Clontarf. That was brilliant and the next step was to get all the lads with Irish blood to play for Ireland. Four home-grown guys were also picked for the next Irish team and I was lucky enough to start all those games in the European Nations Cup. Brian Carney was doing the commentary when we got to the final. We had Mick Cassidy and Barry McDermott, two huge names in England.”

As he completed his studies at UL, Dowling was contemplating a career in physiotherapy or teaching when Declan Kidney came calling. He was duly offered a development contract.

“I was blessed to be involved at a time when competition for places in the back line was fierce,” he says. “The icons of Munster rugby, Gaillimh, Claw, guys who are still playing like Axel, Rog and Strings were there. How long had they been plugging away and it was nearly embarrassing how quickly and how easy I got in. But it wasn’t like that … I worked my ass off to get where I am today. Everything wasn’t just given to me but I was blessed then and I’m blessed now.

“The game down in Castres was my first in the Heineken Cup. We scored seven tries and everyone seemed to get one except me. Even Tomas O’Leary — he came on the wing and got two. Barry Murphy also played his first Heineken Cup game in Castres. Bazz and I are great friends and he did all the work for my try a week later against Sale. He was on song that night with that class try of his, the block down from the halfway line and all that. For my try, Bazza fixed two lads on the try line and gave me a pass and all I had to do was fall over and make sure I didn’t knock on the ball.”

Such modesty, I suggested. Quick as a flash he retorted, “that’s all you’re going to get from a Kilkenny lad. You must be confusing me with some of the Cork fellas”.

“To score in that atmosphere was unbelievable. All my friends from the rugby club back home were down. They were Munster supporters long before I came along. I love to see them there and my parents, John and Kitty, are fanatics and they come to all the matches and my young sister Catríona when she can.”

The likes of John Kelly and the Munster think tank helped Dowling to contribute handsomely to the remainder of that campaign when the manner in which he could swivel out of a tackle in attack and deal with his defensive responsibilities to the manner born earned him the admiration of team mates and fans alike. He duly played his part in the wins over Perpignan, Leinster and Biarritz and his name will always carry a special cachet where Munster rugby is concerned.

Last year wasn’t quite so good even if they did reach the knock-out stages once again. This season, the results are beginning to slot into place and not even almost freezing to death out on the left wing at Stradey Park last week has in any way dulled his sense of expectation.

“It wasn’t the ideal night for playing on the wing and I was absolutely freezing although I suppose I got used to it the week before against Leinster. That game was vital for us in that it showed that we didn’t have a Plan B or weren’t ready or whatever. But against Llanelli we showed this is what we are going to do in these kinds of conditions. We learned a lot from the Leinster game. We got a great result over there because it’s a really tough place to go, especially after getting beaten over there last season. But this weekend is still going to be very difficult. It’s cup rugby from now on and we’re in the toughest pool in the Heineken Cup.”