Leinster blow as O’Malley forced to quit

Leinster’s back line options, already weakened after the summer movements, have been further reduced ahead of the new season with the news that Eoin O’Malley has been forced to retire from rugby at the age of 25.

A long-term knee injury left the Belvedere College graduate with no option but to depart the professional game and he joins Jonathan Sexton, Isa Nacewa, Andrew Conway and Fionn Carr who had already departed Dublin.

With 54 appearances — seven of them coming in the Heineken Cup — to his credit, O’Malley was a highly-rated centre who would have undoubtedly enjoyed considerable game time this season in what will be Brian O’Driscoll’s last as a player.

O’Malley, like many Irish centres, lacked the bulk which is the norm for the position elsewhere but he boasted superb passing and footwork and the ease with which he adapted to the elite game was evident in a superb European debut away to Clermont Auvergne in December 2010.

His loss leaves Leinster light on midfield bodies and will inevitably place a greater emphasis on O’Driscoll as well as the younger generation which includes the likes of Brendan Macken, as new coach Matt O’Connor seeks to pick up where Joe Schmidt left off.

It is an unfortunate end to a promising career for a man who played 10 times for the Ireland U20s, three times for the Wolfhounds and earned a call-up to the senior squad in 2012 before injury began to have its wicked way.

A whole host of his erstwhile team-mates took to Twitter yesterday to laud his contribution, both as a player and person, over the course of his truncated four-year career, with O’Driscoll describing the news as “absolutely brutal”.

“It is obviously an incredibly tough reality that I am still trying to come to terms with,” said O’Malley. “After exhausting all options I am devastated to be retiring from the game. But I am so fortunate to have such a great support base. I would like to say a very special thank you to my family, girlfriend, friends and Leinster team-mates who have been so supportive.

“Naturally, as with any long-term injury, you inevitably end up spending a lot of time with the physiotherapists, the strength and conditioning coaches and the doctors, so I would like to say a particular thank you to them.

“I would also like to strongly thank Michael Cheika, Joe Schmidt and all of the great coaches I’ve played under for their support since my school days.”

O’Malley came to prominence when Belvedere won the Leinster Schools Senior Cup in 2005 with Cian Healy, Ian Keatley and Paul O’Donoghue.