The big interview with Tommy O’Donnell: ‘It’s easy to make the decision - I gave it everything’

Former Munster Player of the Year and Ireland star Tommy O’Donnell has decided the time is right for him to retire from rugby. The dynamic back-rower tells Simon Lewis he has an MBA to study for but he will miss the craic in the dressing room and would love to give it a really good rattle for the last few games of his career

DISTINCTION AND DEDICATION: Munster’s Tommy O’Donnell intends to expand his horizons and see how different clubs operate and get a bit of career professional development in and to go and see different coaching systems. Picture: Matt Browne

The standing ovation Tommy O’Donnell received when he announced to his Munster teammates his intention to retire at the end of the season spoke volumes for the regard in which the back-rower is held by his peers and would be echoed by supporters had they the chance to say goodbye themselves.

Many of those squad members will have voted for him as their Munster Player of the Year in 2013 and represented Ireland alongside him on one of the 13 Test teams he graced including two Six Nations-winning campaigns. Keith Earls was even in the same 2007 Ireland U20 Grand Slam-winning squad, along with former teammates Ian Keatley and Felix Jones, and they will also have been at his side when the low points came, as they did with numerous injuries in his 14 seasons as a professional rugby player.