My 2019 World Cup Training Squad

My World Cup Training Squad – 2019

Prop – Dave Kilcoyne, Jack Mc Grath, Cian Healy, Eric O Sullivan, Tadgh Furlong, Martin Moore, Andrew Porter, John Ryan.(8)

Hookers – Sean Cronin, Niall Scannell, Rory Best, Dave Heffernan.(4)

Second Row – James Ryan, Devin Toner, Iain Henderson, Tadgh Beirne.(4)

Back Row – Josh Van Der Flier, CJ Stander , Jack Conan, Peter O Mahony, Jack O Donoghue, Jordi Murphy.(6) 22 Forwards

Backs –

Scrum Half- Conor Murray, John Cooney, Luke Mc Grath.(3)

Out Half – Jonathan Sexton, Jack Carty, Ross Byrne, Joey Carbery. (4)

Centre –  Robbie Henshaw, Chris Farrell, Gary Ringrose, Bundee Aki (4)

Wing/Full Back- Rob Kearney, Andrew Conway, Jordan Larmour, Michael Lowry, Jacob Stockdale, Keith Earls. (6) 17 backs

Here is the training squad I would select to train to the 2019 World Cup in Japan, I realise not all these men may not make it as injury may strike but this group would be well equipped to challenge in Japan….

Munster Vs Leinster 2019 Semi Final

Munster will play Leinster in the RDS in their second successive Semi Final in the Pro 14. Last year Leinster beat Munster 18-16 in a tight contest last May. Both teams have a few personal changes with the most notable being Joey Carbery moving from Leinster down south to play with Munster initially on a two year deal that has already been extended by two more years.

For Leinster they haven’t had many personal changes outside of Isa Nacewa who retired at the end of last season. Both teams have 1 win each this season, Leinster won back in October and Munster redressed the balance in December winning 29-17.

Leinster will have their own personal demons to beat on Saturday after their comprehensive loss to Saracens in last weekend’s Champions Cup Final in Newcastle. Leo Cullen will make a few personal changes but may largely stick to the 23 that played Saracens to give them the chance to right the wrongs on last weekend.

It is time for Munster to stop all the heart wrenching defeats at the semi final stage of competitions since there Magners League win in 2011 against Leinster in Thomond Park. Time also for this group to really stand up and be counted, They really don’t want another situation where they will be coming out telling us that they will learn from their mistakes and will be back to following year.

This group has hard to learn some really tough lessons since 2011 and will get another shot on Saturday at making a Final and then trying to win it. Having made Finals in 2015 and 2017 and falling at the final hurdle by being beaten by Glasgow and Scarlets, the Munster squad will feel it is time to give themselves a chance at winning another league crown.

There have been enough hard luck stories and mixed performances. The players will need to take full reasonability for this performance and not leave anything on the field of play. It will be interesting to see how Leinster come into this game. Will they be as physical as they were in December or will there be a more controlled approach on this occasion, only time will tell I suppose…..

I will now and try and select the two squads to face off against each other in the RDS this weekend.

 

Leinster XV

15 Jordan Larmour

14 Dave Kearney

13 Gary Ringrose

12 Robbie Henshaw

11 James Lowe

10 Jonathan Sexton

9 Jamison Gibson Park

8 Jack Conan

7 Josh Van Der Flier

6 Rhys Ruddock

5 James Ryan

4 Devin Toner

3 Tadgh Furlong

2 James Tracey

1 Cian Healy

16 Sean Cronin

17 Jack Mc Grath

18 Andrew Porter

19 Scott Fardy

20 Max Deegan

21 Luke Mc Grath

22 Ciaran Frawley

23 Noel Reid

Munster XV

15 Mike Haley

14 Andrew Conway

13 Chris Farrell

12 Rory Scannell

11 Keith Earls

10 Joey Carbery

9 Alby Matthewson

8 Arno Botha

7 Jack O Donoghue

6 Peter O Mahony

5 Tadgh Beirne

4 Jean Kleyn

3 John Ryan

2 Niall Scannell

1 Dave Kilcoyne

16 Rhys Marshall

17 Liam O Connor

18 Stephen Archer

19 Fineen Wycherley

20 CJ Stander

21 Conor Murray

22 Bill Johnston

23 Darren Sweetnam

Leaving Cert 2019

I was asked to put a few words together about the 2019 Leaving Cert. Very apt as I did my Leaving Cert in June 2009. I have to start by saying that I didn’t win any awards for diligence in my 5 years in secondary school. But I was pleased with how things turned out in the end.

Enjoy the last few days in secondary because life won’t be the same again when you close the door in the next few days to finish off your preparations for the exams that some say will define you but trust me while it is an extremely important set of exams  but it will not define you as a person.

I did not do a great leaving cert but 10 years on I am doing what I always wanted and that was to write and talk about sport. I didn’t do it the conventional way but that is me. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat as the saying goes, just do your best and then at the very least you won’t be wondering could I have done more or less to help myself.

As I say, enjoy your last few days as a student because many will go college , some will take up apprenticeships , more will go down the Post Leaving Cert route to get to where there are aiming to go. It has been a steep learning curve for this author over the last 10 years but I found myself after many years of looking.

I am just trying to offer a different perspective on the next few weeks but listen to your teachers and parents they know you better than I do…. Don’t get overly stressed over the next few weeks, it will all work out in the end…. All the very best with everything…. To the Class of 2019, go well and don’t stress out too much…. Things will work out in some shape or form.

Leinster Vs Saracens 2019 Champion Cup Final

So the first drive for 5 of the year is upon us as Leinster face Saracens in St James Park at 5pm tomorrow evening. They take on Saracens who are trying to win a third European title. This is the game everyone has wished for as we have heard so much from the English media about how Saracens have reinvented the wheel and have a superior “culture” to everyone else in World Rugby. It is only in the last 10 years that Saracens developed this much vaunted “culture”.

Nigel Wray has pumped millions into Saracens to put them on this upward curve. They are a well drilled team and Mark Mc Call has a good sharp coaching team around him with Kevin Sorrell and Alex Sanderson in charge of attack and defence.

These men have been in and around Saracens for many years and are well versed in the way that Saracens works. They did not reinvent the wheel although it does seem that people seem so keen to point out that Saracens have done things differently but so many clubs have tried those different ways and with varying degrees of success.

For all the talk, Saracens have to be admired with how ruthless they have been in the last few years.   They have managed to get rid of the choker tag because Nigel Wray tried this slightly differently around 20 years ago when he signed guys like Paul Wallace and Kieran Bracken and Francois Pienaar and they didn’t make a any real dent into European or League action at that point.

But 20 years on, the same team is really breaking down all those barriers and winning many trophies and also they are developing their own players as 16 of the 23 to play tomorrow are from their own academy. Leinster likewise will have academy talent on show with Ross Byrne, Max Deegan, Sean O Brien and Rhys Ruddock in there 23.

Both clubs have put time and money into developing their own talent and that talent will get the chance to show off on the biggest stage in St James Park. Both teams seem to be now leading the way in allowing young players the opportunity to play in the big games. Hugh O Sullivan gets into the Leinster 23 to replace Jamison Gibson Park with James Lowe and Scott Fardy in the starting team. Both men have played key roles in Leinster’s run to the Final this year and will be critical to Leinster’s chances in their quest for a 5th title.

This is as I have already alluded to is the game everyone has waited for at this stage after Leinster beat Saracens at the quarter final stage last year. Mark Mc Call will have learned plenty from that game as Leo Cullen will have so it is set to be a real scrape for European supremacy. So many have found it hard to pick a winner but this is the two best sides in Ireland and England taking each other on.

Prediction time, I think Leinster will come out on top but like most Finals it will be tight. There will only be between 3 and 7 points between the sides……. May the best team win…..

Ruby – Reigns Supreme

The much vaunted career of Ruby Walsh drew to a successful conclusion yesterday evening after 24 years in the saddle where he steered Kemboy to victory in the 2019 Coral Punchestown Gold Cup. He had the chance to partner some of horse racing finest over that 24 years. Horse racing is not everyone’s cup of tea but Ruby’s career has to be recognised as he won 12 Irish Jockey Championships and won 59 races in Cheltenham, the Olympics of Jump racing.

He worked for 2 very powerful yards , namely Paul Nicholls in England and Willie Mullins in Ireland, combing both jobs for a large period of time in the mid 2000’s. He won the Aintree Grand National twice in 2000 and again in 2005.

I have had the pleasure of seeing this man use his skills at the famed September meeting in Listowel. He along with Sir Anthony Mc Coy, Barry Geraghty, Davy Russell and Richard Johnston in England are some of the best National Hunt Jockeys you will ever see. Forget this talk that Ruby was only good in his generation, he was one of the best ever.

Yes he didn’t always get his tactics spot on but such is life, we can’t always get things right. But to watch Ruby in action was always a pleasure and he and Willie Mullins made a formidable team at Cheltenham in particular where the opening day of the Festival had been nicknamed “Ruby Tuesday” such was his high success rate on the opening day.

He has managed to stay top of his game for such a long time is a testament to his skill and of course the calibre of horse he had at his disposal. To win Leading Jockey 11 times in Cheltenham in some achievement and yes many will say “but sure he had great horses, but they won’t go very far without the right pilot on board”.

He will now move onto new projects hinting that he may look to work with English based racing channel Racing TV and keep up his work with other well known brands. He has already stated that training won’t be his radar at the moment as he wants to try his hand at other things first.

Over the last 24 hours, many well known figures have heaped praise on him and what he has managed to do over 24 years. He will know most likely see his position taken by Paul Townend and Willie’s son Patrick along with his nephews Danny and David who will try and carry on the terrific work done by all at Willie Mullins base in Co Carlow.

This will not be an easy job to replace some one of Ruby’s calibre but Paul Townend has already shown he is more than capable of doing the job of winning on the big day and so have the three Mullins boys so Willie can take solace from that.

Congrats on a great career in the saddle Ruby, all the very best in the next chapter…… I’ll let you off the €20 you cost me at the 2018 Listowel Festival…..

29 Not Out

At midnight, I turn 29. The official start of the final year of the decade that is supposed to shape the person you will be when you hit the magical number that 30…

I have been taking stock of where I am in life. I am doing what I always wanted to maybe not the way that 90% of people would do it but that is me, doing things the roundabout way instead of taking the well worn path of so many people.

I have stood back far more in recent times and actually though before I spoke which for many years it seemed to be something that I would never get the grasp of in my late teens and my 20s.

I suppose writing about my frailty and the stuff that has dominated the last 9 years has been a huge help. I have been recording and writing since 2013. There aren’t too many people in the career they hoped for when they were in school and of course there are exceptions to every rule and they are many working in their chosen field.

I suppose all these milestones are that bit more important now but I still am the one person who will turn 29 quietly and do likewise in 12 months time when I turn 30. Sweet Jesus even writing that down is funny. I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and now I am staring down the barrel of my 30th birthday.

For now though, it is again time to take stock of life and see where I am and what I am. Life does not turn out the way we plan it to, sometimes it will but sometimes it won’t and you will need to revisit your life plan.

The Life Plan, the thing that used to scare the shit out of me , being here at 18 , being there at 21 and then having life sorted by 30. House, wife, kids, That’s the way you are suppose to do it but as I alluded to already I don’t seem to have grasped that concept. What I am saying is I will do thing my way and see where that will take me….

What I am getting at is I have never been one to conform and accept the ordinary, my arrival on planet earth will tell you that. Being anointed only hours after birth and then fighting for life for 3 months should have taught me about the fighting qualities that are within me.

Hitting 29 later on will come and go but the reality that I will turn 30 in 12 months is really beginning to hit home and I hope that it will help spur me on in the next few years.

I have done my utmost to help people and be respectful of people from all walks of life. I hope to continue my volunteering and continue to give back to people. I have tried to be there for people in their times of crisis and of course I have my own go to people when I need to offload the feelings that have held me back. The battle in my head and mind has been difficult but over the last few years I have learned how to deal with that battle…

Looking to the future, the possibilities are actually endless, I never thought I’d put that phrase down on paper or say it out loud. I have turned into a far more relaxed person although it may not seem like it to many people.

I can look on the last 29 years with fondness, yes there have been plenty of tough moments but for the most part I would not want to start again.

I have lived out the dream of being in a position to get to talk to some of own best known sporting personalities like Jimmy Magee, I have spoken to Olympians , pole dancers , local people , I have been MC at a few events and reported on many sporting events. I have been at 3 World Cups in 2014 in France, 2015 and 2017 on home soil. I have tried to give a voice to some unknown sports people and done my best to write and record about women in sport…

Let’s hope I can continue my recording and writing in the future…. It is 29 and I am most defiantly not out…….