Peter O'Mahony in line to earn 100th cap for Ireland

If selected Peter O'Mahony will earn his 100th cap for Ireland and become the 10th person to join the exclusive club

Tue, 03 Oct, 2023 - 01:00

Simon Lewis, Tours

Ireland’s pivotal World Cup pool encounter with Scotland this Saturday promises to be extra special for Peter O’Mahony as he prepares to earn his 100th cap, the 10th Irishman to join a select group of centurions.

One of those is O’Mahony’s long-time friend and team-mate Conor Murray, who is in line to win his 111th cap when Ireland face the Scots at Stade de France. The two 34-year-olds came up together through the Munster age grades and few will be as pleased as the scrum-half for his provincial captain and national team stalwart.

“Yeah, all going well,” Murray said. “I've been around with Pete since Munster U16s, so I’ve known Peter a very long time.

“We shared the club journey and the international journey pretty much side by side. We have a lot of the same experiences. It'll be great to get to that milestone and it's a huge day for himself and his family and everyone that's worked with him the whole way up. Hopefully it all goes to plan, because it's a very special club.”

There are similarly long relationships within the Ireland World Cup camp here, including O’Mahony’s former Ireland U20 team-mate Ciaran Ruddock, now a strength and conditioning coach with the squad.

“If selected, that would be amazing for Peter,” Ruddock said. “In terms of my journey and for him, he was one of those people that when I turned up from Wales hoping to make the Ireland team, himself, Jack McGrath, and Eamonn Sheridan were hugely welcoming for me and (younger brother) Rhys, making us feel part of it all and ultimately why we wanted to come over to Ireland and pursue rugby in different aspects.

“He's an incredible leader, he's a great bloke and he's worked incredibly hard over his whole career to be where he is. He deserves every bit of it.

“I remember playing with him for the first time and I was incredibly impressed with him, some of the things he could do, some of those one-handed line-out takes. At the time, I don't know what he weighed but he didn't weigh nearly what he weighs now.

“He was 18 years of age and I couldn't get over how much of a punch he packed for a guy his size. It will be incredible to see if he does do it and he deserves all the success he's got to this point.”

Fellow Ireland forward Finlay Bealham deployed his extremely dry sense of humour to describe the veteran flanker but ultimately paid a heartfelt tribute to O’Mahony.

“Me and Pete are best friends. He mightn’t say that to you, but he would say it to me the whole time and then, as well, I’m wearing Crocs at the moment but I bought Pete the exact same pair so we could be matching,” a deadpan Bealham said.

“He might be wearing them and he might not be, but in all seriousness he’s an incredible leader in the group.

“He’s someone that I look up to as a player and the way he is a professional about everything on and off the pitch. For him to get his 100th cap I’ll be delighted for him. He’s a credit to the jersey and his family will be proud of him I’m sure.”