Peter O'Mahony sidelines Munster contract talk as thoughts turn to Six Nations

CONTRACT TALKS: Irish Rugby captain, Peter O’Mahony at the launch of the 2024 Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championship at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Peter O’Mahony has batted away talk of his ongoing contract discussions with Munster as the new Ireland captain looks ahead to the national team’s upcoming spring schedule.

The recipient of a centralized contract with the IRFU for the bones of a decade, the 34-year is now coming off that tier and that has placed the onus on his club to step up to the plate with a deal financed from them or in a dual capacity with the union.

The Cork back row was speaking just two days after appearing for the province against Northampton Saints in at Thomond Park, but in his role as national skipper at the Six Nations launch in Dublin, and that latter fact gave him an easy out.

“Look, I knew these questions were going to come,” he told RTÉ at the launch in the Guinness Storehouse on Monday morning.

“For me, it's about the Six Nations talk at the moment. There's been enough said over the last few weeks and I don't really want to take away from the occasion today and the squad that's been named over the next two weeks is my focus.” 

O’Mahony did open up on the great honour he felt at being offered the role of Ireland captain and revealed that Andy Farrell phoned him about the matter the Monday evening after Munster’s Champions Cup win in France.

“It is pinch yourself stuff a little bit," he explained.

Taken off against the Saints with an unspecified injury – Munster coach Graham Rowntree spoke later of a few “little bangs” shipped in recent times – O’Mahony was confident about the prospects of being fit in time for the approaching Six Nations.

“I’m certainly planning on being fit,” he explained of the team’s opener away to France on Friday week.

It’s all a long way from the Stade de France in October when, in the wake of Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final loss to New Zealand, he spoke sombrely of his future as a player and about how he would have to take time when considering if there was another chapter to come.

There were, he admitted, thoughts of retirement at the time.

“Yeah it was, it certainly was. It was a tough few weeks after that, but it wasn't the right time to make any calls given the circumstances and I haven't thought about it [since]. It came around there where I was getting back into Munster stuff and the normality after the whole thing.

“I was enjoying it again, to get a phone call like the one I got last week is a very special one and I'm glad I got the opportunity to represent my country again. In hindsight, it wouldn't have been the most pleasant way to leave the jersey where we did end up.” 

There was no willingness to discuss how much more he can extract from a magnificent career. The focus remains resolutely on the here and now and among those short-term considerations will be his lieutenants in the leadership group.

O’Mahony has promised to continue doing his talking on the pitch rather than in the dressing-room. It’s a style that served him well during his long stint with the Munster armband and he is confident in the supporting cast around him.

“Look, Johnny [Sexton] always had a big group of us around him. Andy and us would always put a huge emphasis on how important our leadership group is and it's a big group now, and I'll be very reliant and dependent on that group. This is far from a one-man band.

“This role, it has always been a role that has been supported by the drivers in the squad... It’s always been a role that’s been supported by the drivers in the squad and I’m hoping it’s no different for me.

“I’ve no doubt the boys are going to row in as much as always, share the workload and get stuck into the leadership of the group.”