CLONTARF HAVE NO shortage of motivation heading into this afternoon’s All-Ireland League final against Cork Constitution at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 3pm).
The Bulls finished the regular season second only to today’s opponents, but lost both home and away encounters with the Munster club. They will also take fuel from the lingering sting of missing out on the Division 1A top four last season.
“We were a bit disappointed with ourselves last year and how we ended up,” says captain Michael Noone, though he also acknowledges that the campaign was closed with a 43-12 win over Con. A thumping victory, but too little too late to nudge them up higher than fifth.
“We were putting it down as a transition year, but we were never going to accept that. Our goal was to be here first weekend in May. Now, it’s to go on and win it.”
Michael Noone and Brian Hayes with hands on the cup. Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
‘Tarf have done a fine job of hitting that sort of target while ramping up to peak performance in recent weeks. A narrow loss at home to Terenure presented them an uphill struggle, but they powered up that particular incline, going to Lansdowne and racking up an 8 – 36 win to earn home advantage for the rematch in the semi-final.
“The back-to-back wins at the end of the season was testament to how good the guys are. To win by a certain amount to bring them back to Clontarf for a home semi was testament to the club’s strengths and the guys who came back in.
“Con and ourselves always seem to end up here, there or thereabouts, for the first weekend in May.”
“We’re under no illusions. We haven’t beaten them this year in the league. That’s quite a while ago now. It’s a final, everyone’s back, it will be an interesting encounter.”
Interesting indeed. Days after Munster signalled his exit, Duncan Williams is among the Cork Con squad, with Sean French out on the wing hoping to benefit from the new-found width in Con’s gameplan.
Clontarf hasn’t been able to call on Leinster centre Conor O’Brien, but they will be more than happy to make do with his brother Sean alongside Matt D’Arcy in the centre. Connacht scrum-half Angus Lloyd partners David Joyce at half-back while Vakh Abdaladze has been given leave from Leinster to take up a spot among the replacements.
It’s a necessary headache for coaches the length and breadth of the AIL’s upper reaches. Up-and-coming professional are of course a worthwhile addition to their squads, but they come with challenges too. Tactically, they must be bedded into a system with minimal preparation time after spending at least half a week with their province. Emotionally, there are devoted clubmen who may have to miss out and make way for an elite talent.
Sean O’Brien storms away against Lansdowne. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
“There will always be disappointed players if they are deselected for whatever reason,” says Clontarf head coach Andy Wood, “we are lucky that the guys who have come in have generally played a season or two more or less before they have gone on to make their mark.
“We have provided a little pathway or a shop window for them. So when that time comes around in whatever, the second or third season, they are not strangers. We are not just parachuting them in.
“The lads know them. They are around on a Thursday, they will pop in on a Tuesday to say ‘hello’ or they will be at games watching and supporting.
“So it’s not as if they are strangers to it but it is not easy on players who have played a number of games in-a-row and then ‘X’ is available.
“They understand I guess, but no one ever likes it on a personal level. By and large, lads understand that if a player of quality is coming in for the right reasons, it is for the betterment of the team or the perceived betterment of the team.
“Again, we just roll up our sleeves and get on with it.”
“The ambition of our players, whether we are officially tacked on to the professional game or not, there are still players who are playing to be the best of their ability in the AIL, who we hope would transition in (to Leinster).
“You certainly want to be speaking to the coaches who would directly influence these players’ careers.
“There is always a good relationship with Leo (Cullen) and Peter Smyth in the Academy as well. It wouldn’t be every week but there are certainly conversations now and again.”
French scores against Trinity in the semi-final Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
For Cork Con, Sean French is a stand-out young talent and the club don’t expect to see much more of the U20 Grand Slam-winner after this season. Between his power on the wing and the influence of Shane Daly and Alex McHenry through centre, Con have impressed this season by veering away from the style which brought them to three straight finals, expanding their attacking threat across the breadth of the field to reach a fourth.
“It’s good to see them expressing themselves to a degree, being able to play and back themselves, and I think being prepared to make a mistake too,” says Con coach Paul Barr.
“I would have worked with Sean and Shane in school (PBC), and then Alex with Con, and they are really dedicated young players with I think an awful lot of ability, and it’s fantastic.”
“We have a funny dynamic in that we have an older group of players who would have played in those two finals against Clontarf and last year against Lansdowne, and we have a younger group of players who have never played in any final. I think that it’s a nice mix, and those young players have a fearlessness when playing for the club.”
Youth, experience, nous and fearlessness. It’s set to be a humdinger on the big stage down Lansdowne Road.
CLONTARF (Probable): Jack Power; Michael Courtney, Sean O’Brien, Matt D’Arcy, Cian O’Donoghue; David Joyce, Angus Lloyd; Ivan Soroka, Paddy Finlay, Royce Burke-Flynn, Cormac Daly, Ben Reilly, Tony Ryan, Adrian D’Arcy, Michael Noone (capt).
Replacements: Declan Adamson, Tom Ryan, Vakh Abdaladze, Andrew Feeney, Conor Kelly, Mick McGrath, Brian Deeny.
CORK CONSTITUTION (Probable): Liam O’Connell, Sean French, Shane Daly, Niall Kenneally (capt), Rob Jermyn, Aidan Moynihan, Jason Higgins: Gavin Duffy, Vincent O’Brien, Dylan Murphy, Brian Hayes, Evan Mintern, Joe McSwiney, Kevin Sheahan, Luke Cahill
Replacements: Patrick Casey, Brendan Quinlan, James Murphy, Alex McHenry, Ross O’Neill, Duncan Williams, Jonathan Wren.
Referee: Jonny Erskine (IRFU)
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LEINSTER STAR JAMES Ryan has been voted the Zurich Players’ Player of the Year 2019.
The 22-year-old edged out competition from his fellow nominees Tadhg Beirne, Jack Carty and Peter O’Mahony to pick up the prestigious gong at the Zurich Irish Rugby Players Awards ceremony on Wednesday evening.
He was also named the Nevin Spence Young Player of the Year ahead of Jordan Larmour and last year’s winner Jacob Stockdale.
Already an influential figure in the Ireland team, Ryan has collected 17 caps for his country since making his debut against the USA in 2017.
Ryan is also a key performer for the his province and is regarded as one of the best second rows in the world.
“It’s always nice to win awards, but tonight has been particularly special in that I am being recognised by my teammates and opponents,” said a delighted Ryan after receiving the award.
“I have many great memories of the season but there have also been plenty of learnings that I will take with me into the future. A special word of thanks to my family who continue to guide me through what has been a fairly hectic rugby career to date!”
The Leinster man was also nominated for the Virgin Media Sport Supporters’ Player of the Year, but Connacht star Carty landed this award following an exceptional season in which he earned his first senior cap for Ireland.
Jack Carty receiving the Virgin Media Sport Supporters’ Player of the Year award. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
His impressive kicking form also resulted in him becoming Connacht’s record points scorer.
Ciara Griffin was voted the 2019 BNY Mellon Women’s XVs Player of the Year by members of the Ireland squad.
Meanwhile, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe claimed the iZest Marketing Women’s 7s Player of the Year for the third time, with Terry Kennedy taking home the AIB Corporate Banking Men’s 7s Player of the Year title.
Former Ireland full-back Conor O’Shea was also inducted into the BNY Mellon Hall of Fame, while Jacob Stockdale won the award for Volkswagen Try of the Year for his effort against the All Blacks.
Conor O’Shea has been inducted into the BNY Mellon Hall of Fame. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO
Ireland’s famous victory over New Zealand last November was voted the Druids Glen Hotel & Golf Resort Rugby Moment of the Year by members of the public.
Meanwhile, Darren Cave — who will be retiring at the end of the season– was awarded the Vodafone Medal for Excellence.
And former Ireland and Leinster star Shane Byrne was honoured with the Zurich Contribution to Irish Society Award.
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The Unknown
A RUGBY PLAYER is lying facing down in the grass after hearing a pop in his neck during a scrum, when he turns to his team captain looking for a cigarette.
Victor Connell at his home in Killoe, Co. Longford.
‘I may as well have a fag while we’re waiting for the ambulance,’ he thinks to himself.
A casual half-time smoke on the sideline is a regular sight for players in the Longford Rugby club in 2005. They would often carry cigarettes in the pockets of their shorts while one player would be delegated with the task of bringing a lighter for everyone to share.
Panic descends on those looking on at the scene. A doctor is on the other end of a phone line, giving instructions to stick a pen in the foot of the player lying motionless on the ground.
But the 25-year-old hooker isn’t feeling the distress. He’s not thinking about the consequences of his head colliding with the shoulder of his opponent from the Roscrea team. Or the fact that he can feel all the energy draining from his body.
He just wants a cigarette.
Almost 14 years on from the accident, Victor Connell still can’t explain why he was so calm in that moment. And it will be some time before he can come back to the Longford Rugby club on his own to get some form of closure on a chapter that changed his life forever.
But for now, he’s on his way to Mullingar Hospital and will later be transferred to the Mater Hospital and the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dún Laoghaire before he can return home to pick up his life again in Killoe in north Longford.
As he’s carried into the back of an ambulance, Connell turns to one of his friends before beginning the journey into the unknown.
“Jesus, what am I after getting us into now?”
The Transformer
A van pulls up at a bungalow facing the local GAA pitch in Killoe. There’s some whirring noises before a motorised wheelchair carrying the driver appears, and reverses out through the back of the vehicle.
It’s quite the entrance.
“The children in my mother’s creche call me a transformer,” Connell tells The42 as his dog Tyler — a beautiful cross between a corgi and a Jack Russell — arrives to welcome him home.
Connell designed this house in his head during a second stint at the Rehabilitation Centre in Dún Laoghaire, and his imagination has produced a lovely place to call home. It was one of the things he wanted to achieve as part of a 10-year plan and the local community rallied around him to get the job done.
There’s plenty of space for him to move about freely in his chair and various devices that make independent living possible for him.
The voice of his Alexa technology greets us when we enter the kitchen and a panel of buttons on the wall allow Connell to control different functions in the house.
A telescope sits in front of a window in the conservatory which he might look into making more use of in the future, and there’s a barbecue outside in the garden for entertaining.
There’s also a Fianna Fáil map on the kitchen table which contains the Granard electoral area that Connell is hoping to represent as a Longford councillor.
Shane Horgan signing a jersey for Connell.
As the owner of a counselling business in Longford, issues relating to mental health will be one of his main areas of focus if he gets elected. Improving accessibility for disabled people in the midlands county is a huge priority for him too.
The votes have been cast and he’ll discover his fate this weekend when the results of the local election are revealed.
“If people looked at me, they’d think ‘well what can you do?’
A Good Sport
Rugby hats and scarves are placed throughout the house too. In his office, four rugby jerseys are suspended in glass frames above the computer, peppered with signatures from famous players.
He’s still very passionate about the sport that he discovered as a secondary school student in St Mel’s College in Longford.
“Two of my uncles and a first-cousin died when I was 15 in a car crash,” Connell begins when explaining the background of his interest in rugby.
“I realised that rugby was great for getting the anger out so I used it as sort of my release. Any sort of anxiety or tension that I’d built up during the week, I’d take it out at training over the weekend. And then the anger disappeared and I enjoyed the comradeship with the lads down there.”
Connell always played on the front line of the scrum. He played the tighthead and loosehead prop roles from time to time, but hooker was always his preferred position.
Keith Wood and All Blacks legend Sean Fitzpatrick were the masters of the trade that he looked up to.
He was shaping up to be a fine player in his teens and received call-ups to the Midlands rugby team at U16 and U18. He went for Leinster trials at U18 level as well, but he never really envisaged his career going down the professional route.
Rugby was simply a sport that was good for him.
“I wasn’t a great rugby player but I wasn’t bad,” he says. “I put my head where a lot of other people wouldn’t.
“It was like turning a switch when I went out onto a rugby pitch. The calm Victor stayed in the dressing room and the bit of a lunatic went out,” he laughs.
Connell in action for the Longford team. Source: Longford Rugby Club.
Inside The Scrum
All sorts of dark arts could be performed in the scrum, and Connell certainly didn’t shy away from the nasty strokes.
Injuries were impossible to avoid, of course. Groin strains, bruising and soreness were all normal unpleasant feelings that he carried home from a game. He even picked up a few bangs on the coccyx from scrums and rucks where “some lad would give you a knee up the backside.”
All standard injuries. Nothing that would keep him sidelined for longer than a few weeks.
Dark Humour
“I never broke anything…. apart from me neck,” he smiles, always treating his injury with some humour.
Connell always endeavors to do things this way to make people feel at ease in his company. Whenever he meets the referee who took charge of that game, he playfully brings up the scrum that changed the direction of his life.
“I just laugh and say, ‘I told you to blow up that game early.’
He hasn’t had an opportunity yet to meet up with the Roscrea players who were in the front row opposite him, but he’s confident that will happen in time.
‘I’m hurt, I’m hurt’
Sunday, 2 October was a wet day. Connell had been at the Longford Rugby Club the night before following the anniversary mass of one of his friends, and after some sandwiches and a few drinks, he retired to bed at around half 12.
The match against Roscrea the following afternoon was a scrappy battle. It was saturated with scrums. At least 20 by Connell’s count.
With about five minutes to go, another scrum was called. Liverpool were playing Chelsea that day and Connell, who wanted to watch the game, jokingly asked the referee to forget about the scrum and finish the match early.
But they all hunkered down and got back to work. The ref wasn’t happy with the first scrum and called for a reset.
The Longford Rugby team. Connell is pictured second from the left in the front row. Source: Victor Connell
“Back then there was no crouch, touch, pause, engage,” Connell explains. “It was just down and in. It was the old style and hell for leather. You had to line yourself up to get between the hooker and the prop.
“I think me and one of my props weren’t fully straight. I can’t rightly remember but one or two of the lads that were playing said we were skew-ways. When I went in, I hit the other hooker’s shoulder head on.”
Connell instantly knew he was in trouble.
“I just let out a roar, ‘I’m hurt, I’m hurt.’ And everybody just pulled apart and I was just on the ground.
“The manager and physio came over and I said, ‘don’t move me. My neck is broken.’
“It popped one of the vertebrae out of my spine. I didn’t actually sever my spine so it would be what you call an incomplete injury. So that was it. I felt the pop.
C4-C5… an incomplete injury
On the night of the accident, Connell was in the Mater Hospital where weights were placed on his head in an attempt to push the vertebrae back into place. That procedure was unsuccessful and surgery followed.
A doctor arrived at Connell’s bed the following morning with a prognosis that would shake Connell’s world and change his life forever.
He didn’t go for sensitivities when he was delivering the news. It was C4-C5, an incomplete injury. Connell was now a quadriplegic.
“He says, ‘you’ll never walk again, you’ll never use your arms and you’ll probably be on a ventilator for the rest of your life.’ So that was great news to hear.
Connell was certainly at a low point but things were about to deteriorate further. As a high-dependency patient, he was breathing through a mask which he didn’t like and within a few hours, he had developed pneumonia. He needed a tracheotomy which took away his power of speech.
Recovery would begin shortly after for Connell, but he first had to confront the understandable feelings of despair circling in his head. Suicidal thoughts crossed his mind. He’s not a religious man but he prayed while he was in hospital, sometimes just for the simple mercy of being able to sleep.
A nurse who was working on night duty played a huge role in helping him overcome his grief and reach the stage of acceptance.
“I was probably getting used to the medication as well, and getting used to people turning you over and turning you back.
“It was just a case of ‘oh God, is this going to be it for the rest of my life? If it is, Jesus what am I going to do? Who’s going to look after me?’ All these things were spinning round in my head. It was all negative, negative, negative.
“Family life was over. I’ll never have a girlfriend, I’ll never have kids. I’ll never have this, never have that.
Building A New Life
Connell with former Ireland stars Simon Easterby and Gordon D’Arcy along with his idol Keith Wood.
Connell had other reasons to feel fortunate about his situation. Within a few hours of that conversation with the nurse, the patient in the bed beside him died. Another patient passed away the following day. He had lost friends and relations to death too over the years, and the combined impact of all this tragedy gave him some much-needed clarity.
When he was later transferred to the Rehabilitation Centre in Dún Laoghaire, Connell met patients who were suffering more than him, including those with brain injuries.
It wasn’t as though the difficult thoughts left his mind entirely. There were still dark days to face, but the focus to recover as much as he could was always at the forefront of his mind.
His arms, neck and back muscles were some of the few things that fate left behind after the accident for Connell to thread his new life together with. He had the tools and now he had to go to work.
“Life had possibility and it wasn’t over,” says a resilient Connell.
“I’m not inhuman. Of course I thought about suicide. But when I was in the depths, I was lucky I was in a safe place in intensive care. Even though the thoughts were there I didn’t have the opportunity to do it.
“Life can improve for me but for someone with a brain injury it’s so much harder. I suppose that’s what brought me down to earth and that’s what the nurse was trying to say to me in the intensive care unit.”
Connell was discharged from Dún Laoghaire the following summer and enjoyed those few months of freedom with his friends, going to the pub and heading off to matches.
He would have to be admitted again to hospital for another five months after failing to take better care of a pressure sore, but while that second stay in Dún Laoghaire was more difficult for him, that was the time when Connell really began to take control of his new life.
He drafted up his 10-year plan and the five goals he wanted to box off in that time. In addition to getting his house built, the other tasks were to get healthy, get driving, go back to college, and start earning money.
It took him just eight years to complete it all.
Connell ‘s parents pictured with him at his graduation.
The ‘transformer’ van is testament to his successful attempt at getting a driving licence. And his work as a psychotherapist and counsellor is the outcome of his studies in Athlone IT.
Becoming a county councillor is one of the new goals he has set for himself, while he also wants to do a sky dive later this year as part of a fundraiser. Using a special exercise bike and some free weights, he also works out too.
He was the fittest he ever was at the time of the accident, having shed two-and-a-half stone while on a diet.
In his former life, Connell was right-handed. But it was two years before power was restored in that arm, meaning he was forced write with his left hand using an adapted pen. It ended up being a blessing in disguise.
“I can actually write better with my left hand than I ever could with my right hand. The teacher always said I was like a spider after crawling out of the ink and crawling across the page.
“The funny thing is when I started writing with my left, I started joint writing automatically. I didn’t even have to teach myself, it just happened.”
A Better Life
After getting his driving licence, there was one place that Connell wanted to go. He had been back to the Longford Rugby club a few times at night, usually for a function. And he was there when his team-mates secured promotion, a day of celebration that was tinged with sadness as he looked on at the team he was once part of.
But it was the day he took himself back to the rugby club on his own that stands out as a milestone moment for Connell.
“I went out to the pitch and sort of [thought] ‘that was where it happened.’ I sort of replayed it in my head and reminisced a little bit. I sort of said, ‘it all changed here’ and that was it. I got in the car and came home again.
The reality of being in a wheelchair is never far from Connell’s thoughts. He rarely thinks about the accident but when he does take time to reflect, the memories pose a few questions.
Would he have survived the pneumonia had he not been in peak physical condition? Would he have been stronger in the scrum had he not lost the weight?
“These are things that go through your head,” he surmises.
Breaking his neck was a life-altering chapter in Connell’s life, but as he discovered, it wasn’t the end. He picked up the tools and constructed a new life for himself.
It’s coming to the end of our conversation and Tyler is back in the room, looking for his owner. Connell picked him up from the pound and would surely have been euthanised had he not been re-homed.
In many ways, Victor Connell 2.0 is a better version of his former self. As long as his mind is alive, he’ll never be a prisoner in his own skin.
“I often think life is better in some ways. It gave me a whole new outlook whereas maybe I was a bit selfish before. It’s given me a freedom in a certain sort of way. It’s hard to describe.
“I won Longford Person of the Year, that wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t in a wheelchair. I hate the word inspire and I don’t set out to inspire anybody. I just get on with life.”
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LEINSTER’S DEVIN TONER says that two recent high-profile incidents were ‘isolated’ and not representative of the province’s culture.
On Monday, the IRFU sanctioned Sean O’Brien over an incident in a Dublin pub in the wake of Leinster’s Guinness Pro14 final win over Glasgow Warriors.
In a separate incident last month, an academy player was punched and knocked out by a former player, who was then invited on stage three days later when Leinster celebrated the 10th anniversary of their first Heineken Cup win.
In rugby, terms like ‘values’, ‘culture’ and ‘standards’ are often used as a means to both promote the game and maximise a team’s ability on the field.
“If you ask me when I went to build a team, ‘What do you look to get right first?’ You look to get the culture right,” said Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster last year.
During their run to Heineken Champions Cup victory in 2018, Leinster used the phrase ‘brothers‘ to describe their player-driven culture.
And, when it’s put to Toner that the young player knocked unconscious may not have much cause to feel like a ‘brother’, Leinster’s second-most-capped player says the incident could have been handled better.
“It could have been handled a bit differently but, I’m not in the position to be doing that,” said Toner as Energia were announced as new sponsors of both the men’s and women’s All-Ireland league.
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Devin Toner and Sene Naoupu pictured as Energia and the IRFU agreed a five-year deal, which will see Energia become Official Energy Partner to Irish Rugby and title sponsor of both the Men’s and Women’s All Ireland League (AIL) competitions. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO
In dismissing the need for a review of the culture, the Meath lock lamented the ‘two isolated incidents’ in question.
“I don’t think there’s a need to review anything, to be honest. It is a player-driven thing.
“The people that have been involved know that it’s not what they do, and it’s not what we do. There have been apologies and they’re two isolated incidents, and that very rarely happens. “