Paulie's school of thought: alma mater on the brink of success
In Thomond Park, Paul’s alma mater Ardscoil Rís take on Crescent Comprehensive College in the Munster Senior Cup final. If Ardscoil win, it won’t just be their first title, a milestone in itself, it will also complete one of the rarest doubles in Munster sport: the Harty Cup (senior hurling) and Senior Cup (rugby). It was last achieved back in 1930 by Rockwell College.
Recognised as one of the all-time great second-rows, the irony is that when Paul first attended Ardscoil it had nothing whatever to do with the oval ball, or any other ball for that matter.
“My Dad [Michael] worked in Shannon, in De Beers, so he passed the school every day on his way to work but it was really down to my Mom [Sheila], she made those decisions,” he said.
“She would have done her research, would have learned that this was a very good school in every way. I wasn’t even playing rugby at the time so that wouldn’t have been a factor at all, it was purely academic. I had a few friends from The Model [primary school on O’Connell Ave] who were going to Ardscoil Rís and that would have come into it too.”
Competitive swimming was still Paul’s main sporting preoccupation when he started in Ardscoil but over the next few years he grew into rugby, quite literally, when his frame began to stretch. By 1996, the last and only other occasion Ardscoil reached a Senior Cup final, he was beginning to take an interest.
“I was in transition year in ’96, would have been around the team a little bit but wasn’t on it, didn’t come on till ’97 and ’98. Declan Lynch was captain of that team, now a physio at Arsenal. I learned under Dessie Harty, a great guy, great passion for rugby, very positive, brilliant with young people.”
Learning yes, but still not fully immersed, not the way he is today.
“I wasn’t that obsessed with rugby back then. [Jerry] Flannery and Paul Neville [St Munchin’s and Ardscoil contemporaries] and all those guys generally drove on the local rivalry but for me, rugby still wasn’t that important. I enjoyed it but I had no big plans to make a career of it. I think it was Flannery’s plan from day one.”
By the time he left Ardscoil though, with a couple of years playing with Ireland at schools level under his belt, his own plan was beginning to take shape and he hasn’t looked back... until now.
Back to where his own rugby career was sparked and stimulated, and which now stands on the cusp of history.
“We haven’t yet matched what Rockwell did but even to reach this final is a great achievement. Rugby only started in the school in 1982 so we don’t have the tradition of Crescent or Munchin’s or Rockwell, or of Pres or CBC in Cork.
“To be able to compete at the top level in both rugby and hurling, obviously it’s a school that manages its resources really well. The schools still play a massive part in the development of rugby.
“Leinster is different to Munster in that they tend to be nearly all private schools, they all have big rugby programmes, a full-time person in charge and very often an ex-professional player.
“A lot of the schools in Munster are public but they too are now bringing in that professional element and you see it in Ardscoil Rís with Mossie Lawlor. I played with Mossie with Ardscoil and with Munster and he has an incredible amount of rugby knowledge.”
The professionalism Paul speaks of also extends to the hurling programme in the school, to such an extent says hurling coach Niall Crowe, that it precludes any chance of players doubling up in both sports.
“We have students here who excel at hurling and rugby. In fact Stephen Fitzgerald, the rugby captain, played Harty with us two year ago while his brother, Conor, came on in the Harty Cup final this year. Both of them are outstanding dual players but they had to make a choice, one sport or the other.
“It’s impossible to play both and I think that’s testament to just how professional it’s gone, the amount of work and preparation that goes into both sports.”
It doesn’t mean of course they don’t work together.
“We have a very good working relationship,” says Niall. “There’s a fantastic buzz in the school and we’ll all be in Thomond Park on Monday, supporting the team.”
They will be joined by various alumni from the five decades of Ardscoil’s existence, including possibly Seán Cronin, Mike Sherry and Dave Kilcoyne from the current Irish squad. None more distinguished however than Paul O’Connell, for whom this school represents so much.
“Ardscoil Rís is a brilliant school academically and that was the main reason I ended up there but rugby, schools rugby, also gives you a great grounding, not just in what’s needed to be a top-class rugby-player but in life. You learn so much from rugby. Discipline, team-work, preparation, honesty, the value of hard work.”
Ultimately perhaps, it’s more important than winning, more important even than creating history.
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