Aidan Moynihan: The craic is back as Ireland’s club rugby stars return to AIL action

AIL players will be making up for lost time on and off the field, according to Cork Constitution fly-half Moynihan, who has taken over the captaincy at the 2019 champions from Niall Kenneally

IRFU Rugby Committee chairman Greg Barrett, Cork Constitution captain Aidan Moynihan, and Energia key account manager Aidan Brennan were on hand as defending champions Cork Con host a photocall at their club grounds to mark the commencement of the 2021/22 Energia All-Ireland League season. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

There will be smiling faces on team buses up and down the land on Saturday as the majority of clubs get their Energia All-Ireland League 2021-22 campaign under way and players return to action for the first time in 19 months.

And there was no grin wider than Cork Constitution’s new captain Aidan Moynihan, who will lead his side to Dublin and a tough season-opening assignment at Lansdowne (2.30pm) on the Aviva Stadium Back Pitch.

After losing nearly two years of their playing careers as the Covid pandemic shut down all sport not considered elite, AIL players will be making up for lost time on and off the field, according to fly-half Moynihan, who has taken over the captaincy at the 2019 champions from Niall Kenneally.

“The vast majority of lads in this league are in their mid-to-late 20s, working full-time jobs or else students in full-time education, so for us, getting up to training on a Tuesday and Thursday and playing a game on a Saturday, it’s the highlight of our weeks really.

“We’re delighted to get that craic back and to be able to play your game on Saturday now, have a couple of pints afterwards or have a few beers on the bus on the way back down to Cork — that’s definitely up there with the things you’d miss.

“Even though Division 1A rugby is extremely competitive and treated almost as a professional standard by the clubs in terms of the training and the time that goes into it, it still very much has an amateur ethos to it as well, and that’s what we’ve missed as well, and we can’t wait to get back. You’d almost look forward to the craic as much as the rugby.”

The emphasis will be very much on on-field matters come kick-off as Cork Con play the first of three tough games to kickstart their season. The Lansdowne trip is following by a home Munster derby against Young Munster next Saturday, before another trip up to Dublin to face Clontarf — the team they pipped to the 2019 title to become AIL 1A’s most recent champions.

Not that Moynihan is encouraging a mindset that Con will be starting the season as defending champions.

“We’ve got to take this season on its merits, not what happened 18 months ago, we’ve a new group of players and a big turnover of players, so we’ve very much parked that. Even last year when we got back playing those few intermittent games, we tried our best to park it. I mean, 18 months is a long time in terms of rugby, we’ve a completely new squad now, and I think we just have to look ahead to this new season and what’s in front of us.”

Moynihan believes that an unpredictable campaign lies ahead.

“The nature of club rugby is that teams and squads change and rotate massively year on year, depending on who’s coming out of college and where they end up taking up jobs, or relocating to, so we’re almost a couple of seasons down the line now, and lads coming out of school haven’t played Senior Cups or an U20 season, really.

“So we’re entering the unknown this season really, and I know here in Con and the situation we have we don’t really know what we’re going to be like coming into the new season until we get those first three or four games played. So it’s a funny space to be in, but a very exciting one too.”