O’Reilly’s first Ireland cap

Tony O’Reilly’s achievements as a businessman are well documented.

His tussle with Denis O’Brien for control of Independent Newspapers did not work out too well for him but his media empire stretched worldwide. Straight from college, he worked as a management consultant in England before returning to Cork, where he had his first involvement with the agricultural sector with Suttons. This led to him joining An Bord Bainne as general manager, while still only 26. He developed the Kerrygold brand to market Irish butter worldwide and four years later, was appointed managing director of the Sugar Company, in which capacity he was responsible for Erin Foods and a special frozen food venture with Heinz.

Reportedly, he was offered the position of Minister for Agriculture by Jack Lynch but instead he left the Sugar Company and joined Heinz. There, his rise was rapid. He was appointed managing director of Heinz in the United Kingdom. When he moved to their headquarters in Pittsburgh, he became senior vice-president, president and then CEO. In 1987, he became the first non-member of the Heinz family to become chairman of the corporation.

It the midst of all that, he earned a PhD for a thesis on agriculture in Ireland.

What should not be forgotten is his rugby career, where he still ranks as one of the greatest players ever to wear the Irish jersey and is a member of the International Rugby Hall of Fame. At secondary school, he excelled at rugby, cricket, tennis and soccer, which he played with Home Farm. After only five senior matches for Old Belvedere, he was selected for the Irish national team, made his debut against France and after four internationals was picked for the Lions.

His Lions career was spectacular and he is still the record try scorer for all matches. On his first tour to South Africa he broke the record just after his 19th birthday and broke it again four years later in New Zealand. In South Africa, he scored 16 tries in all the matches including two in the tests. In New Zealand, he scored 22 tries, this time including two against Australia and two against the All Blacks. Those six tries are still a Lions record.
His Irish career was also special but, in contrast to the Lions, he only scored four tries. That reflects the number of games played in those days and the type of game that Ireland played. He scored against France and Scotland in 1956, Wales in 1959 and France again in 1963 but never scored against England.

He got his final chance against England in 1970 when he was recalled to the team after an absence of six years. He was a well-established businessman at that stage and Willie John McBride is reported to have said that he turned up for training in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce and that the chauffeur carried his gear into the dressing room. When he was tackled in that match in Twickenham, it is said somebody shouted from the terrace “you can tackle his chauffeur as well”.

That was his last match. He played his first match against France, the Irish team for which was announced on January 14, 1955 – 57 years ago this week.