Kellehers the latest to play Leinster’s family fortunes

The Kearneys, the Byrnes, the other Byrnes, and now the Kellehers — Leinster really know how to give a team a family feel.

After welcoming Rob and Dave, Ed and Bryan, and Ross and Harry, the team province now have a fourth pair of siblings on their books with the return of Cian Kelleher from Connacht coming at the same time as younger brother Ronan is comingpushinges his way into the reckoning.

The pair — one a winger, the other a hooker — played two pre-season games together and could make their first competitive appearance alongside each othertogether tomorrow night when Dragons come to the RDS.

“I don’t know what it is about the brothers here, it’s a strange enough one,” smiled Ronan. “It must be pretty unique in terms of professional sport.”

“It is something that I’ve always had, I suppose.

“Obviously, he went to St Michael’s where he was three years above me, so we wouldn’t have played together. But I was always watching his games.

“We’ve only played twice now — against Northampton and Coventry. It was very funny for the first defensive set, having him outside me.

“My eyes were in on the ball and he was saying: ‘Ronan, get wider, wider.’

“It was funny hearing his voice because it would usually be one of the other lads. It’s a voice, obviously, I’ve heard my whole life.”

Familiar voices are always welcome in a team, and Cian’s is not the only one making Ronan feel at home.

“We are fortunate enough that a lot of his team-mates are also up here, it’s a pretty natural fit,” Ronan said.

“It makes it feel a lot more cohesive than you would expect because I would have played with a lot of the lads coming up, like Oisín Dowling, Jack Kelly. I would have been a year behind James Ryan and Max [Deegan], but we would have played together.

“Coming up here and training with them every day, it was a lot easier to integrate into it.”

Cian made his second ‘debut’ for Leinster against Zebre last weekend, an unusual 3-0, win with Ross Byrne’s penalty the only score of the night. It leaves the winger waiting for his first try in blue since 2016 — but the younger Kelleher has already overtaken the older, after Ronan’s hat-trick against Ospreys earlier this month.

“I was shocked myself. I’ve never done that before,” he said.

It does seem to be a common enough theme that I seem to score in bunches. If you are behind a dominant pack, which we were lucky enough to have that day, it is helpful.

Kelleher, 21, made his debut in February and faces a tough ask to push his way past Seán Cronin and James Tracy to grab the No. 2 shirt.

A latecomer to the position — he was a loosehead prop for his Senior Cup years, and only made the switch in sub-academy level — he works hard now to make up for lost time.

“[Peter] Smythie and Noel [McNamara] suggested this was my position, so it has meant a lot of work on my throwing to get it up to speed,” he said.

“The scrummaging in the hooker role is a lot more natural to me than it was at loose-head back in school. I just find the everyday rigours of hooker easier. Throwing is definitely more mental than physical, it is kind of like being an NFL kicker.

“You’re playing the same game, but it is a different aspect. It is something you have to get used to.”