Ennis man makes his Munster debut

TWENTY-ONE-year-old Ennis man Luke O’Dea made his Munster debut last weekend. Playing on the wing in a 34-17 victory over Edinburgh in the RaboDirect PRO12 game at Thomond Park Stadium, the Shannon RFC club man scored a bonus point-winning try in what was an impressive personal display.
Luke has played all of his club rugby with Shannon, although he received his secondary school education at St Flannan’s College and won an U-16 football championship medal with St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield.
“We lived in Birmingham and he played with a club called Mosley from the age of about six or seven,” Luke’s father John told The Clare Champion.
“We moved back here in about 2002. He didn’t play with Ennis because the weekend he was due to go to training, Clare were in the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny and they cancelled their training. So he went to Shannon instead and stayed with Shannon,” added John, who is a life-long club member and former Ennis RFC player.
Luke is in his second year at the Munster Academy and plays most of his club rugby at full-back. He made the move up from the Munster sub-academy at the start of the 2010/11 season and is a regular on the British and Irish Cup squad.
John said the family were not expecting Luke to get the nod at adult level this soon.
“We knew he was going well and at some stage we were hoping that he would get a full run but you don’t know and some lads never get it. He has been going well and he has been injury free,” he said, adding he was “thrilled” that Luke went so well on his debut.
Away from rugby, Luke is in his fourth year studying economics and sociology at UL.