Peter Dooley helping to put Birr on the rugby map

Dooley, 26, is one of a dozen uncapped players in the Vodafone Series squad and is bidding to become Birr’s first rugby international.

Peter Dooley. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

It would be a stretch to call Birr a rugby hotbed but the Offaly hurling stronghold is developing a habit of producing up-and-coming front-rowers and if Peter Dooley becomes the town’s first international this summer, many more could follow.

Not that the Leinster loosehead is getting ahead of himself but a first call-up to the Ireland squad bodes well for a Test debut in the next couple of weeks as Andy Farrell’s men square up to Japan on July 3 and the USA a week later, both in front of supporters at Aviva Stadium.

Dooley, 26, is one of a dozen uncapped players in the Vodafone Series squad and though he will be the junior partner in a trio of looseheads also featuring Dave Kilcoyne and provincial squad-mate Ed Byrne, there is a good chance a debut will come his way in the coming fortnight, and he will become Birr’s first rugby international.

Hurling, naturally enough, had been a big draw, as it is for any student of St Brendan’s Community School but his father’s love of rugby proved decisive and Dooley is not the only product of Birr RFC now making a name for himself in the sport.

Fellow prop Michael Milne is in the Leinster academy, as is Ronan Loughnane, the current Ireland U20 hooker, while Connacht is home to senior hooker Shane Delahunt and Daithi Regan’s son Jack is joining Ospreys from Super Rugby’s Highlanders.

“It’s mad to think a small town like Birr can produce players like that, I suppose,” Dooley said, “it’s unreal for a small club like Birr in a big hurling town.”

For Dooley, choosing rugby over hurling was not entirely pre-ordained but when the choice was made, he described plenty of support for his decision.

“The hurlers a good few years ago, Johnny P — Johnny Pilkington — they were a bit, not put out, but wondering what the story with rugby was, because my Dad would have coached me, all up along and they were all, ‘How do we get Peter back to playing hurling?’ And my Dad was ‘I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.’

“They were very good to me in fairness, in school my old principal Ming Loughnane (at St Brendan’s), she looked after me fiercely. Club rugby, we trained one night a week, so Wednesday night was training night and we’d play a match on the Saturday. I’d hurl two sessions Monday/Tuesday, Thursday/Friday pretty much and try and play a match as well.

“So they were very accommodating and looked after us really well. I think every hurler always had a fair idea that I was always going to go play rugby so that made it easier.”

Dooley credits his athletic prowess with sporting parents.

“I suppose an ounce of breeding is as good as a tonne of feeding is the saying. My Dad is 6ft 4in, 24 stone, my Mum is tiny. No, my Dad would have played with Roscrea all up along and I would remember being in Roscrea clubhouse after matches. His friends would all teach me tricks of the trade. But my Mum would have played, I think, hockey in school in town and stuff. So she credits me with my speed, not that I have much of it left.”

With a place in the Ireland squad, Dooley is striking new ground for both family, club and town and having bided his time behind Cian Healy and Jack McGrath in the Leinster loosehead pecking order, it has felt like a long time coming.

“I wouldn’t say (it’s) overdue but sometimes you’d be like, ‘would I ever get a call-up?’ But when you get it, it’s a bit of a shock. But no, I didn’t lose the faith, I believed in my own ability. It’s nice to get in here but you want to play and get capped. Hopefully, that dream becomes a reality.”