Ambitious O’Leary living the dream with Ireland

Donning the Irish jersey for the first time was a dream come true for Maeve Óg O’Leary, writes Dan Danaher.

Last November, 70 women from Ballina-Killaloe RFC raised the roof in the RDS when O’Leary replaced Ciara Griffin in the second half of Ireland’s 20-10 win over the USA on Friday night to earn her first international cap.

Seconds after her introduction, the Ballina flanker made a try-saving tackle to prevent US back row Elizabeth Cairns from touching down.

🗣️ "I'm just going to put my head down and push myself as hard as I can."

Maeve Óg O’Leary is one of six uncapped players in the Ireland Women's squad for the upcoming Tests against USA and Japan 🙌#NothingLikeIt | #IrishRugby | #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/L1igfC6Va0

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 3, 2021

It was a proud moment for the Munster back row who earned her first Ireland cap through her outstanding performances in the interprovincial championships.

The 21-year-old has become a role model for young female rugby players in South-East Clare who now want to emulate her achievements.

“It has been a dream of mine to play for Ireland. It was really surreal replacing Ciara Griffin, the leader of the Irish team, which was an honour,” O’Leary told The Champion.

“It was really special for have all my family at the game, apart from one brother who is in Australia. Shane flew home from France and my parents Delia and Declan were there.

“Growing up I missed some social events but it was all worth it in the end,” O’Leary recalled.

St Anne’s and Ballina-Killaloe RFC coach, Grace Kearney recalled she was very “emotional” listening to the national anthem before this game because she knew how hard O’Leary had worked to make her debut.

With the help of her husband and another teacher, Kearney brought 70 girls from First to Sixth Year on a bus to watch O’Leary make her international debut.

“For a girl like Maeve to come from a small club like Ballina-Killaloe and represent Ireland is amazing. She is inspirational for young girls playing rugby in the school who feel if Maeve can do it, why can’t I do it.”

“Ballina-Killaloe RFC is a small club. We have about 100 girls playing rugby in St Anne’s. All of them look up to Maeve. St Anne’s are very proud of her. Having Maeve as a Munster player really encourages our players on the Munster squad to push hard to make the team for the interprovincials. Maeve couldn’t be a better role model.”

Kearney’s dream is for O’Leary to play again during the Six Nations this year, which she feels is very achievable.

Undoubtedly, O’Leary has been a trailblazer for the school and the club, who have nine girls on the 16’ Munster Development panel and eight on the Munster 18 panel, while five girls played on the Munster 18 team last year.

Ballina-Killaloe RFC won the Munster U-18 Girls’ League final against Clonakilty on Saturday, on a score of 39-7.

The South-East Clare team has 28 girls registered for U-18 rugby this year. Numbers are continuing to grow thanks to the open door policy of welcoming all girls regardless of their ability and rugby prowess, as Kearney believes there is a place for every girl on the training field.

Ennis RFC are also making great strides in ladies rugby, with three of their players on the Munster Senior team last year.

O’Leary grew up in a rugby-mad household, with her brother, Shane playing professionally for Connacht, in France and England.

Her father, Declan played with Sunday’s Well in his younger days as well as coaching Scariff RFC men’s team for years, sister, Sinead featured from U-8 to U-12 with boys’ teams, brothers, Conor and Peter also played with the oval ball.

In 2015, she started playing rugby seriously at the age of 15. While she was in Transition Year, she started playing softball, which led to representing Ireland in the World Junior U-19 Championships in Florida in 2017 and the U-19 European Championships, winning silver, and the U-19 World Championships in California in 2019.

Having started camogie at the age of five with Ballina, she lined out in the Tipperary attack from U-13 to U-18, until she decided to concentrate on playing underage provincial rugby.

“If you are training for one sport it will benefit another one. I enjoy the mix between playing camogie with Ballina and rugby with Munster. I think it is important for any young person to play as many sports for as long as you can because they complement each other,” O’Leary pointed out.

In 2018, she was selected for the Munster U-18 team, her first taste of high intensity professional rugby training, making her debut against Leinster.

Studying for a Masters in Public Relations and Strategic Communications in Dublin City University, she started playing rugby with the college team and moved to Blackrock RFC where she was coached by former Ladies’ Head Coach, Philip Doyle.

While she was playing with DCU, she was moved to flanker and played in this new position for all teams in 2019.

“Similar attributes are required for playing at centre and flanker in terms of being a ball carrier, having speed and physicality. I didn’t find the transition too difficult,” she said

Last year, she made her provincial debut against Ulster in Kingspan Stadium as a flanker in August.

She trains twice a week with Blackrock, in addition to three or four gym and running sessions.

Kearney, who is a former underage player with Munster, was asked to help out coaching boys rugby when she first came to St Anne’s in 2015.

However, her first question was why wasn’t there any coaching for girls and quickly addressed this glaring deficit by setting up training in the school and Killaloe Ballina RFC so they could feed off each other and help boost numbers.

When O’Leary and her friends were in Transition Year, their rugby-mad Maths teacher brought them to every available tournament and friendly matches.

In Transition Year O’Leary got called up to the Munster Girls’ U-18 squad with Roisín Houlihan, and Kearney used to drive them to Cork for training after school.

“I could see huge potential in Maeve Óg and Roisín and was glad to help out by helping them avail of opportunities that were not there when I was playing.

“For me as a coach, I could watch what the girls were doing in Munster training and implement it in the club.

“Maeve Og calls me her ‘second mum because I have been so involved in her rugby.

In her first year, O’Leary was picked for the sevens’ team but didn’t make the fifteen’s team, which was disappointing as she is very competitive.

“Maeve is not shy when it comes to hard work,” Kearney noted. Even though O’Leary is very busy doing her Masters at the moment, Kearney acknowledged she is very willing to help out in training when she returns to Ballina.

“She is so grounded and tells the girls playing rugby takes a lot of hard work and she emphasises the importance of listening to the coaches. She is phenomenal.

“In 2018, Maeve Óg got the Student Of The Year (award) in school and the funniest part of it was I remember her saying to me that she was disappointed she didn’t get the Sports Person of the Year.

“That just shows you how much sport means to her. Although she got the overall student of the year, she was disappointed that it wasn’t the overall sports person of the year. But that’s just who she is.”

Regarding O’Leary’s positional switch to the back-row after playing the majority of her rugby in the centre, out-half and on the wing, Kearney recalled that she played a lot of rugby for Ballina-Killaloe at out-half and centre because of her astute rugby brain and ability to read a game.

The Maths teacher always felt O’Leary was more suited to the back row but that’s wasn’t an option at club level.

“Moving from the backs to become a flanker involved a big change for Maeve. She is very competitive in the line out and is a very good ball carrier. She is strong and determined. A flanker has to be everywhere, hitting rucks, in the line out, in the scrum, and able to cover ground throughout the field. It is one of the hardest position on the field because a flanker is involved in everything.”

Barring injury, Kearney predicts a bright future for O’Leary based on her ability and work rate, which has resulted in former captain, Ciara Griffin and Munster U-18 Girls’ coach, Fiona Hayes citing the Ballina dynamo as a player to watch out for in the future.

“Her attitude in the Munster and Ireland camp, her attention to detail and her work ethic will stand to her,” she concluded.