Belvedere’s Keane desperate to rewrite family’s final script

OLD BELVEDERE may be strangers to Irish club rugby’s biggest day but Conal Keane isn’t.

At the turn of the millennium, loading into the family car in Skerries and making the trip to wherever the AIL final happened to be, had become a family tradition.

Conal’s older brother Killian, who won a cap for Ireland in 1998 and is now a rugby commentator with Setanta, was with Garryowen at the time when the Limerick club reached four unsuccessful finals.

The 1999 decider at Lansdowne Road stands out when Con deprived their Munster rivals of the title in extra time, courtesy of a young out-half.

“There was a certain Ronan O’Gara playing for Cork Con that day and he kicked the winning points,” said Conal.

“We got sick as a family of going to All-Ireland finals because we lost four. Two to Shannon, one to Young Munster and one to Cork Con. Hopefully that isn’t an omen.”

Killian finally got his hands on what is now the Ulster Bank AIL title in 2007 as part of the Paul Cunningham coaching ticket that bagged the league and cup double.

Even then the Keane family’s love/hate affair with the competition didn’t run smoothly. Conal’s Clontarf were one of the sides they swatted in the league semi-final but now here he is in a final of his own with Belvo.

Once again, Cork Con will provide the final road block. Few expect the Temple Hill side to depart the capital defeated but Keane will look back on the day knowing he did everything he could.

By his own admission, he is a bit of a student of the game and phone calls will have been made to Killian and Cunningham come kick off tomorrow — the Garryowen coach supervised two stalemates with Con earlier this season.

The Garryowen connection is certainly strong and seems to have extended to the younger Keane’s style of play, with Belvedere coach Phil Werahiko describing him as a Munster-style number 10.

“Maybe I saw the leather clipped off the ball so much down there at Dooradoyle that I can’t get it out of my system,” he laughed.

“So that is probably an accurate reflection.

“I try and mix it up as much as possible. I would be conscious of getting us into the right areas because you can’t score tries from very deep in this league, even with players of the quality we have like Danny Riordan or Dave Mongan.”

Keane’s controlled approach has served Belvedere well, complemented by former Leinster out-half Andy Dunne, whose looser style has been utilised in the final quarter of games.

In a way, it is almost like the club game’s version of the O’Gara/Jonny Sexton.

“It can only be good for the team. The two of us are playing quite well. We are different styles of players. Our pack of forwards has sometimes responded to a more structured game plan just to get them into the game. With Andy then coming off the bench when the game is a bit looser and defences are a bit more tired, his brand of rugby causes problems.”