James pays tribute to consistent O’Gara
However, he proved his dedication to the cause by turning up at Annacotty for the AIB League game between UL/Bohemian and Cork Constitution.
For the hardened Irishmen and women in attendance, it was difficult in the extreme to endure the bitter cold of Sunday afternoon. For a native of Brisbane, it should have been well nigh intolerable, but McGahan saw the game through and while it was far from a classic, he would have noted several players on both sides well worth keeping an eye on.
First he would have seen that Paul Warwick remains in terrific form and had he not been forced to retire after 50 minutes, in keeping with regulations governing contracted players representing club sides, he might well have steered UL/Bohs to victory.
Instead, they came unstuck as Con struck for two late tries, the second from Billy Holland, a Munster academy player and highly effective replacement in the famous game last month against the All Blacks. A powerfully built number eight – as would befit the son of former international second-row Jerry – he looks a very bright prospect.
Many will contend that the AIL is nowadays too far removed from the professional scene but many good judges have frequently proclaimed its merits.
The academies run by Munster Rugby and various clubs certainly have their place in the scheme of things but these young players need matches, and many of them, if they are to acquire the kind of solid edge that has stood to the present team for such a long time.
Most of today’s squad benefited hugely from their days in the AIL and while the competition is nothing like it used to be back in the 1990s and early years of the new millennium, the league is still the only stepping stone to greater things for the majority of home bred players who might well be lost without it.
It offers the likes of Holland and his Con clubmates Duncan Williams, Tom Gleeson, Denis Fogarty and Tim Ryan, Dolphin’s Barry O’Mahony and David Ryan, Michael Essex of Shannon and the Garryowen duo Ciaran O’Boyle and Mark Melbourne essential game time and experience, while they work on moving another step or two up the ladder to Heineken Cup standard.
Obviously, Tony McGahan and Anthony Foley, another member of the coaching staff, see things in a similar light. They watched Sunday’s game together and will have liked much of what they saw from the academy and other up and coming players.
There are other ways of building for the immediate and long-term future. Overseas players like Doug Howlett, Lifeimi Mafi and Rua Tipoki serve the first need more than adequately. But there are numerous outstanding players in this country who either struggle to get into their own provincial teams or have to go abroad to realise their ambitions.
Mike Ross, the former Cork Constitution prop now starring with Harlequins, conquerors in successive weeks of Stade France in the Heineken Cup, is a very obvious member of that group.
Then there’s Niall Ronan, formerly of Leinster where he wasn’t making the grade, but gradually establishing himself in his second season with Munster. He surely came of age in the two games against Clermont and earned the plaudits of all his teammates and most especially fellow back-row forward David Wallace who described him as “an unbelievable footballer and athlete”.
Ronan wouldn’t be anything like as well known as Wallace. At least that’s the case for now. However, after the way in which the Meathman (whose father, Finbarr, won the East of Ireland Golf Championship in 1985 along with numerous other golf titles), performed in Saturday’s teak-tough encounter, he may well be on his way to relieving Wallace of Ireland’s number seven jersey!
Pace is one of Ronan’s greatest attributes with Wallace admitting: “I was ahead of him for the kick and twenty metres behind him when he ran on to it and scored”, a reference to Ronan’s spectacular try at the end of the game, following a move that he started and finished himself.
“I had a look and saw the prop in front of me and Rog said to me to go for the chip and I did and was lucky enough to get there first,” Ronan says a little too modestly — the score was a tribute to the flanker’s footballing instincts and pace.
“With fifteen minutes to go, I was blowing. I haven’t been this tired after a game in a long time. It’s much quicker than the Magners League and it was great to get through the 80 minutes and finish on a high note. Every time we attacked them, they counter attacked and we were running the length of the pitch to defend and it was tough.”
That’s the way it is at this level of the game. And you have to believe that the likes of Niall Ronan and those young players gradually coming through the ranks of the AIL and the academies are, or will be, well up to the challenge.
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