Munster let the Cat out of the bag
Doug Howlett’s arrival has added the stardust to the Munster three quarters, but steady-as-you-go Dowling has carved out his own special niche on the left wing.
Munster coach Declan Kidney unleashed Dowling in a Heineken Cup pool clash away to Castres in January 2006. The golden moments kept coming thereafter: a try against Sale the same month, the silencing of Shane Horgan during the same campaign and last weekend’s try against Gloucester coupled with a few brilliant cameos.
His part in the build-up to his try, that started with an Alan Quinlan turnover inside Munster’s own ‘22’, has been overshadowed by the contributions of Rua Tipoki and Doug Howlett.
But there Dowling was in the early stages, breaking the advantage line down the left wing, off-loading in the tackle before turning up many phases later on to finish in the corner. “I was lucky enough to be there at the end of the last pass,” he says modestly.
It was at that moment in the Kingsholm press box that one or two English journalists were asking how many Ireland caps Dowling has to his name. Simple answer: none. When he made his Ireland A debut on St Patrick’s Day 2006, he also scored in Kingsholm but it cannot be long until he answers Ireland’s call, perhaps on the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia.
Dowling comes from Kilkenny City and first picked up a rugby ball at 10 at Kilkenny RFC, but hurling was his passion in his youth. He played for his school Kilkenny CBS and the famous O’Loughlin Gaels club, and was on the panel when a team that included inter-county brothers Andy and Martin Comerford reached their first county senior final in 2000. His attachment to club was visible even on the day Munster won the Heineken Cup. ‘Dowls’ passed through the mixed zone in the bowels of the Millennium Stadium with an O’Loughlin Gaels gear bag slung over his shoulder.
At 18 he moved to Limerick, enrolled in a Sports Science degree course in UL. And then Shannon came calling. Mick Galwey, who lives in Kilkenny, had monitored Dowling closely from a young age, persuading him to join them for training in Coonagh.
The rest, as they say, is history “When you come to Limerick you’re really only going to play one sport,” says Dowling. “I was playing hurling and rugby at the same time but because the season was getting so competitive and the sports were over-lapping, I had to make the decision.”
While rugby consumed him in the winter months, he dabbled in rugby league in the summer with the Kilkenny Wildcats. His league coach, New Zealander Damien Welland, knew Dowling had the capacity to go all the way in either code. Professional league clubs in England had come calling. “You could always tell he was something different,” remembers Welland. “When he’s close to the advantage line, he is very hard to stop. He’s very strong. Even when he wasn’t professional, the professionals in league couldn’t believe how strong he was. If you got tackled by him you knew it.
“He should be playing for Ireland and should have been playing for Ireland last year. There might be a few out there who are quicker, but you won’t get past him.”
After helping Shannon to two AIB league titles in 2004 and 2005, Dowling was offered a professional contract at the beginning of Munster’s Heineken Cup winning season. The amalgam of skills he had picked up playing hurling, union and league have all combined to produce a unique type of winger.
“It would be a dream to get to play on the biggest stage,” Dowling says of his Ireland intentions. “At the minute I’m not looking past Munster. I feel so lucky at the minute to be where I am. At the moment I’m staying focused on looking after the 11 jersey here at Munster – there are three or four different players here pretty keen on getting their hands on the jersey.”
His career came to a shuddering halt during Christmas when he damaged knee ligaments against Connacht. It meant missing out on the concluding pool stages of the Heineken Cup. Howlett touched down in Ireland at the end of that month, got his hands on his shirt with Brian Carney continuing on the other wing.
“The biggest worry was that the knee might not hold up properly,” Dowling remembers. “But I have no fear of the knee now. I just made it my aim to get back into the starting 15. The competition is so strong here — you need very little motivation here because you know there are lads climbing all over you trying to get to that jersey. That’s the way it should be and it’s great that it is that way.”
Despite the skills he has accumulated from different codes, he wouldn’t say his learning is complete yet. The skill-sets the Kiwis bring to Munster are helping his game, he feels. He said he grew up watching Tipoki and Howlett; to be playing alongside them is a dream come true.
“Dougie and Rua have brought a new dynamic to the game. They see the game differently to us because they come from a different school. They add a new dimension to our game.”
It appears he finds himself doing what he loves most. Despite his Kilkenny heritage, the pride in playing for Munster is always visible in his on-field demeanour. Remember those scenes as he was shouldered from the field in Castres and in Thomond in January 2006, fists pumping in the air. It was reminiscent of a GAA victory. “He’s a very emotional sort of guy,” says Welland. “He’s always the first guy to jump on someone after they’ve scored a try. He loves his country, he loves playing for Munster and he loves being successful. He doesn’t hide his emotions.”
Dowling arrived as a serious winger against Gloucester. Leinster are next on his menu.
The Cat is most definitely out of the bag.
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