Return to the RDS for Ian McKinley - the man who just wouldn’t give in

The visit of Treviso to the RDS this Friday may not make for the most alluring of starts to the new Guinness PRO12 campaign but the presence of Ian McKinley in the Italians’ ranks will at least provide a candidate for feelgood story of the season.

McKinley was just 21, a contemporary of Ian Madigan in the Leinster academy and a man tipped to push Jonathan Sexton for the provincial and national jerseys down the line, when he shipped an accidental boot to the right eye whilst playing for UCD in the AIL.

He recovered enough to play again in the domestic league, and for Leinster, but McKinley had just six appearances bagged with his home province before his vision deteriorated to such an extent that he had no option but to call time on his career.