Reds’ top Cat happy with choice
The Munster winger and Irish squad member may once have been torn between the two great sporting loves of his life, hurling and rugby, but that’s no longer a dilemma.
He did participate in O’Loughlin Gaels successful Kilkenny senior hurling championship run in 2001, but he has achieved much more in rugby.
Two All-Ireland Leagues with Shannon and a couple of Heineken Cup medals with Munster are part of his haul, and at 25, he has achieved things he hardly dared dream about, including appearances for Ireland A and an opportunity to enhance his career at senior level.
Moving to Limerick to study sports science in UL pushed him firmly in the direction of the oval ball.
“It pretty much happened once I went to Limerick because of the demands of travelling up and down for training and matches. It was very difficult to keep juggling between the two codes.”
He threw his lot in with Shannon, joining them on the advice of Kilkenny resident Mick Galwey after he’d trained at different times with Young Munster and Garryowen.
It was an inspired decision. As Shannon blazed a trail of glory at club level, Dowling prospered and came to the attention of Munster coach Declan Kidney, who offered him a development contract which he duly accepted.
He made an instant impact and stunned many by breaking into the winning Heineken Cup team in 2006.
These days he’s one of the first names to be pencilled into the team sheet, although given the present competitive climate he’s not sure that that assessment is correct.
“The competition for places is huge, it’s no exaggeration. Everyone is hyped up for this season; it has been amazing the way guys hit the ground running in the pre-season and right through to the present.
“OK, we won the Heineken Cup last season but we know we have to keep performing and developing to keep ahead of the posse.
“I think maybe after 2006 we didn’t develop as we should have had — some teams overtook us, so we know now we must battle to keep ahead.”
The lessons of 2007 have been learned, he insisted, and there is a different mindset going into a season when they will defend their European crown and bid to also become Celtic League champions.
“Having a new management team in place gives us fresh goals. There are new faces in charge and that presents a huge challenge in itself. We’re constantly being challenged by one guy or the other and the lads love it.
“So far, there has been a lot of rotation of players, guys are showing up in training and they’re getting selected. The view is that there is competition right through the squad from one to 15 — that’s good because it keeps everyone focused.”
He pointed to the opportunity afforded young Keith Earls to date — shades of the chance Dowling himself got so early in his career — and said: “Keith has huge potential, great natural raw talent, he’s obviously being nurtured by Tony (McGahan) and the rest of the coaching team but also by some of the senior players.
“Keith is a great student, always looking to learn; that’s great and he isn’t the type of guy who takes much notice of the hype that’s going around about him. He’ll be fine.”
The Munster winger was a keen student himself. While he claims not to have modelled himself on anyone in the art of wing three quarter play, he did take stock of the example shown by two housemates, Jerry Flannery and Trevor Hogan, both of whom had the jump on him as professional rugby players.
“They’re two fairly serious pros, always looking to get an edge on individual opponents and opposition teams. They were always bouncing things off one another, advising me about this, that and the other including things like diet and nutrition. That was a great learning process,” he said..
That process continues, with Dowling naming Doug Howlett and Rua Tipoki as today’s unofficial mentors.
“Rua is a guy who gives great advice ‘cause he always has fresh ideas; he’s thinking all the time from one game to the next. Then you’ve got Rog (Ronan O’Gara); another always willing to give advice. On one level or another, there are plenty of guys in the squad to sound out,” he added.
This weekend is sure to be one of the biggest challenges of the season for Dowling as he prepares to do battle with arch rivals Leinster at the RDS on Sunday night.
“Whatever way you look at things, it’s a huge game for all concerned,” he admitted.
However, rather than focus solely on the danger posed by a Leinster team strengthened by key overseas signings, Dowling likes to think Munster will concentrate on fine-tuning recent impressive performances.
“We have a new set-up in place, we’re trying to get our own style of game up and running. We put Cardiff to bed last week, now we just look forward to Leinster. It won’t be easy to forget that it’s Leinster we’re playing and we can’t ignore the circumstances that go with a derby, but our plan is to concentrate on our own game, try to get everything right and hopefully let the result look after itself.”
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