PRESENT AND FUTURE LOOKING GOOD FOR EADESTOWN’S JIMMY O’BRIEN

By Daire Walsh

IT may not have resulted in a first international senior cap, but Eadestown’s Jimmy O’Brien cherished being part of the Ireland squad in the build-up to last Sunday’s Six Nations Championship clash with Italy at the Aviva Stadium.

Having previously lined out for the Ireland U20s and 7s teams in the past – starring at World Cup finals in both grades – the former Newbridge College student was called into Andy Farrell’s set-up on the back of an impressive run of form for Leinster. Although he made his debut for the eastern province as far back as November 2018 and has 42 appearances to his name, the last few months has seen him stepping firmly into the limelight.

Having scored a try in Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup demolition of Montpellier at the RDS on January 16, O’Brien subsequently crossed the whitewash on no fewer than four occasions in another emphatic European victory at the expense of Bath six days later. With exploits like this on CV, Farrell and his fellow coaches were eager to get a glimpse of what the 25-year-old is all about.

“It was class. It was my first time getting properly called up to the squad so I was very excited going in there,” O’Brien explained at a Leinster media conference on Monday.

“I was chatting to all the coaches individually and they said they were glad to have me in and they were [saying] ‘don’t do anything different, just do what you’re doing’. They’re very encouraging and great to talk to.

“I wasn’t there at the start of the camp when people were getting to know each other and came in when they all knew each other. But in Ireland they seem to have gelled so well that everyone is hanging out and everyone is having good craic together.”

In those back-to-back European games for Leinster, O’Brien was starting on the left-wing – the position that is usually held by James Lowe. The New Zealand-born livewire was recalled to the Ireland squad at the same time that O’Brien was drafted in and bagged a brace of tries in a 57-6 bonus point triumph over the Italians.

However, such is O’Brien’s versatility that the return of Lowe to full fitness doesn’t necessarily mean he will be back on the fringes again. Back in 2012, he lined out at fly-half for Newbridge in a Leinster Schools Junior Cup decider against a St Michael’s College that included his current provincial team-mates Max Deegan, Ronan Kelleher and James Ryan.

Despite how devastating he was on the wing for that recent trip to Bath, the majority of his starts for Leinster have either come at outside centre or full-back. It is in the latter position that the province’s senior coach – and former England international supremo – Stuart Lancaster feels he is most at home, but O’Brien won’t complain if he is moved elsewhere in the backline.

“I’m still pretty happy to fill in. I think I’ve done pretty well in every position I’ve played in. I think I’ve adapted well so I’m happy to play anywhere. Maybe if I played a position really bad, they’d stop playing me there. Actually, it was like that at the end of last season.

“I was playing left-wing and there was two games where I felt I was terrible and I was like ‘don’t play me there again’ but I’ve played there this season and I was delighted. They can play me wherever they want at this stage. Probably the one that comes most naturally to me I’d say is 15, but I don’t really mind playing on the wing or even in the centre.

“On the wing playing with Hugo [Keenan], we’d swap and stuff because I’m left-footed. So there is a lot of time where we swap and interchange. I’d say that 15 is the one that comes most naturally, but I’ve played pretty much all of them so I’m not too worried.”

What was perhaps most interesting about O’Brien’s recent selection in the Ireland squad was the fact he linked up with fellow Eadestown man Tadhg Beirne. A former Leinster player himself, Beirne has gone on to blossom in the red of Scarlets and Munster and is now one of Andy Farrell’s most valuable assets.

Within the past 12 months, O’Brien and Beirne have both counted another Eadestown native in Rowan Osborne as one of their provincial team-mates – the ex-Clongowes Wood College student having moved from Leinster to Munster last summer. Remarkably, a fourth resident of the village – Diarmuid Kilgallen – is currently under contract at Connacht as the profile of the oval ball game continues to grow in the area.

“Funny that a small village can produce a few professional rugby players. My parents know his [Beirne’s] parents well enough and there is nothing in Eadestown really. There is a church at the main crossroads and he’s about 300 metres one side of the church and I’m 300 metres the other side,” O’Brien added.

“Rowan Osborne as well, I would have grown up with him. We were in junior infants together and grew up the whole way, played GAA. Diarmuid Kilgallen, he’s in Connacht and he just got a senior contract. He’s literally between me and Tadhg [back home in Eadestown].”