Munster boss on skipper O'Leary: 'She's got an incredible knack for pulling people together'
Munster player Maeve Óg O'Leary during the Vodafone Women's Interprovincial Championship launch at Vodafone Ireland HQ in Dublin. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Maeve Óg O’Leary is hoping to captain Munster to a repeat Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial championship and in the eyes of her head coach, the Tipperary back-rower is the ideal person to lead the title defence, starting against Leinster on Saturday.
The 26-year-old assumed the captaincy of her province 12 months ago as Munster completed a clean sweep of their rivals and then hammered the then-defending champions Leinster 50-15 in the Dublin final.
That leadership made O’Leary the obvious choice to captain her province once again for Matt Brown, who described his skipper as “the gel that holds it all together” in a squad which runs the gamut of experience levels.
The Munster boss this week highlighted O’Leary’s impact on the title run last season and the buy-in she received from her squad mates as a “massive highlight" from last year and is hoping for a similar influence when the 2026 championship gets underway at Cork’s Virgin Media Park on Saturday at 2:30pm.
“It's one thing me saying it, you kind of need to be around the group to see exactly why we're good that way,” Brown said. “She's just got an incredible knack for pulling people together and we've essentially three different groups coming together here.
“Girls who've transitioned up from Under-18s who are very young and new to it all, internationals coming back down and girls who are playing provincial and top AIL rugby every year and she's just kind of, whether she's been in the club season or she's been away, the minute she comes back in here she's just like the gel that holds it all together.
“I can't believe I'm pumping her tyres so much here but no, she is a pretty impressive character to be honest.”
The respect for O’Leary reaches across the provincial divide with incoming Leinster head coach Sana Govender, whose admiration for the player has Saturday’s visitors to Virgin Media Park on high alert.
Govender, from Skibbereen, was O’Leary’s University of Limerick head coach, saw the back-rower’s career develop further within the Munster pathways and as Railway Union boss locked horns with the Ballina native’s Energia Women’s AIL club side Blackrock.
“Maeve is someone who puts her body on the line all the time,” Govender said. “I saw that from AIL this year as well. She leads from the front in terms of that. She's a good person and a physical player and that's evident in everything she plays so I think she's definitely going to be one of their talismans and she'll bring them together.” For O’Leary herself, there are straightforward objectives that underpin her approach.
“The main thing for me is just to enjoy my rugby and enjoy being on the field,” she said in an in-house Munster interview. “There’s been so many ups and downs, injuries, so I think every game you get to play, especially in the red shirt, is such a privilege and so fun, that’s what playing for Munster is. So just enjoying rugby and staying fit and healthy is the goal.”
The captain added: "I hope we can just continue on what we built from last year. Everyone is going to say they want to go and an win the Interpros but I want to continue developing young girls form across the province and build a stronger team again this year, and play really good rugby.
“The most important thing is that we’re getting better week in, week out and it really matters where you are at the end of August, you know, you’ve your four teams and it always ends up with that one-two (in the final), and that’s where we’ll be hoping to be.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
