Joey Carbery ready to kick on

Carbery’s performance in the 26-10 second-leg win Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 win over the Chiefs showed just what an asset he can be in his team’s pivotal role.

Munster's Joey Carbery celebrates after scoring a try in Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup last 16 second leg tie against Exeter

When the dust settled on Munster’s gutsy European victory over Exeter Chiefs, it was no surprise to hear Johann van Graan describe Peter O’Mahony and Simon Zebo as their province’s men for the big moments but now you can add Joey Carbery’s name into the same category.

Carbery’s talent as a creative playmaker has long been established. It was signposted as early as 2016 when as a 20-year-old he led Clontarf to a thrilling All-Ireland League final victory over Cork Constitution and endorsed inside six months by Joe Schmidt, who gave the kid a leg up from the Leinster academy to the Ireland replacements bench in Chicago four days after his 21st birthday and entrusted him with closing out that historic first win over New Zealand at Soldier Field.