Jack O'Donoghue: Páirc Uí Chaoimh fitting stage for dual star Ben O'Connor's first Champions Cup start

O’Donoghue, 31, has some hurling pedigree himself, winning age-grade Waterford county medals with the mighty Ballygunner as a teenager before elite-level rugby came calling.

Fri, 12 Dec, 2025 - 18:18

Simon Lewis

Jack O’Donoghue earned his hurling stripes as a teenager with Ballygunner, playing alongside the likes of future inter-county stars such as Dessie Hutchinson. Which is why the Munster back-rower is eager to see former Cork All-Ireland minor and U21 winner Ben O’Connor make his first Champions Cup start against Gloucester at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday.

Like O'Donoghue, O’Connor was one of nine changes made by head coach Clayton McMillan from the team which started the 40-14 Pool 2 loss at Bath last week in the opening round, with the 21-year-old academy player and St Finbarr’s man named on the left wing at the stadium he graced with the under-age Rebels.

“Ben, I think it's very fitting that he's playing on Saturday,” O'Donoghue told the Irish Examiner. “And I think why maybe, that they went with him, it's seeing him play, his aerial skills, his ability to catch a ball above his head. He's a dual star so being able to play hurling and football, he's incredible. To do both, I think it gives you unbelievable core skills.

“Back from my own age group, it would have been (former Cork hurler and Munster wing) Darren Sweetnam and there are very similar similarities between the two of them, both position and the way they play. Their handling skills, their ball skills. It's unbelievable the way they can catch a ball well above their head. And then what they can do after it. They just have that natural ability. It's great and I really look forward to seeing how Ben goes.”

O’Donoghue, 31, has some hurling pedigree himself, winning age-grade Waterford county medals with the mighty Ballygunner as a teenager before elite-level rugby came calling. Indeed, the core of his age group are the backbone of the current Ballygunner side which won the Munster Club SHC final at Semple Stadium a fortnight ago.

“I would have played up until minor, because that's then when I went to 18s and I went with the rugby path.

“I would have won a few county medals, minor and U21. So the majority of that crop of players now, I'd say from Socky (Stephen O’Keeffe) in goal, Ian Kenny, the two older Mahonys, Pauric and Philip, Dessie (Hutchinson), Conor Sheahan, you know, a lot of that group I would have played with coming up through the age grade and I remember, the likes of Mikey and Kevin Mahony and Tadhg Foley, he's the same age as my younger brother and they would have played together. And seeing them there now, I always consider them being babies and now they're an integral part of that Ballygunner team.

“And it's great to watch. It's great to see how successful they are. And I mean, when I say Ballygunner’s my club, they're like, ‘what's it like?’ And unfortunately I haven't been able to play with them for 11, 12 years but certainly, they're a well-oiled machine. An incredible coach, coaching outfit there, Jason Ryan. And I remember him when I was in De La Salle, hurling with the school team. He was there doing a bit before he moved on and I just was really impressed by him.

“And I think the way he has the lads operating at the moment, it's an incredible, like, professional team. And I think having the likes of someone like Dessie, who went over to England to play football in the Premiership (for Brighton), he has an unbelievable knowledge of what professionalism looks like and being able to bring that back to the team is huge.

“You can see them, that core group of players, and when they talk about, I see a lot of similarities. They talk about the competition that they have, that there's younger lads coming through, and really pushing and driving the standards.

“And I see that here in Munster. You know, there's incredibly good young lads here that are coming through and pushing standards and pushing competition for places and hopefully results.”

O’Donoghue makes his return at openside flanker against Gloucester having missed the Bath trip due to a concussion sustained after 10 minutes against the Stormers in the URC a fortnight ago. It ended a run of playing in the first seven games of the season under new head coach McMillan, starting six of them and the back-rower said: “I'm hungry for game time.

“I didn't shy away from it, how disappointed I was not to be playing the games at the end of season last year and that motivated me.

“I'm out of contract this year, I still haven't been dealt with on that. So I'm certainly trying to put my best foot forward for Munster, for whatever else is out there. So, absolutely, I was delighted to be involved in all the games, and then to keep going with the Stormers.

“I feel like I'm in form. You want to keep playing, keep the confidence going, keep the foot on the throat, and keep going whenever you can.

“I had a really good pre-season. I worked hard in the gym, bulked up, and it's paying dividends. But you're only as good as your last game. It didn't go too well for me against the Stormers but I'm really excited to get back out there, to pick up where I left off in terms of the Argentina game back in November, and to hit the ground running again, leading into the Christmas period, which would be really important for the team.”