Jack O’Donoghue doesn’t have to think too far back to remember when he was flying the flag on his own.
or the first time in Munster’s professional history, three Waterford men have played for the province in the same season, with Thomas Ahern and Eoin O’Connor following in O’Donoghue’s footsteps.
O’Donoghue may never have gone down the rugby route had his mother Caroline not brought himself and his older brother David down to Waterpark to play in the same age-group.
Up until that point, O’Donoghue was obsessed with riding horses around a field rather than chasing a rugby ball or sliotar, which he later did with Ballygunner before having trials with the Waterford minor hurlers.
Francis Connors, competing in the 2012 Dublin Horse Show. Credit: Pat Murphy / SPORTSFILE
It might be hard to imagine now given his size and abrasive nature on the rugby pitch, but once upon a time, O’Donoghue dreamt of showjumping for Ireland.
His uncle Francis Connors had done so and surrounded by horses growing up, there were strong family ties.
“Both of my parents would have competed in equestrian showjumping as well as my uncle Francis,” O’Donoghue (28) tells independent.ie.
“Horses were a big thing in my family but then we branched into hurling.
“I would have done showjumping until I was 14 or 15. I didn’t do anything extravagant, I didn’t make it to the RDS or anything like that, but it certainly would have been a big part of my childhood.
“I grew up around it, so it was second nature to me. We always had horses in the family and I was riding from a young age.
“I suppose when I went into team sports later on, I enjoyed that a lot more. I lost interest in showjumping and the horses.
“I can’t remember the last time I was on a horse, but I would still back myself to jump up and compete!”
Having swapped a horse for a hurley, O’Donoghue was soon making a name for himself in the Ballygunner full-back line.
“I was the mullocker standing over people,” he laughs.
Jack O’Donoghue of Munster celebrates with Munster fans Patrick Dowling, left, and Tony Lee, from Waterford, in 2017. Credit: Sportsfile
“I had trials with the Waterford minors but I was also on the Munster U-18s team.
“I said I’d go hell for leather with the rugby and thankfully I did because I haven’t looked back since.”
Not everyone who plays professional rugby in Ireland comes through the same tried-and-tested schools system, and while Munster have gotten far better at casting the net wider across the province in recent years, it wasn’t always thus.
For young players who don’t attend one of the traditional rugby schools in Cork or Limerick, you tend to have to work that bit harder to get recognised.
It was slightly different in O’Donoghue’s case because as soon as he began focusing more on rugby, success with Waterpark followed, which led to underage provincial and international honours.
“I benefited massively that our mum threw myself and David both in at the same age-group, so I was playing two years above my age,” O’Donoghue recalls.
“That probably stood to me at a later point in my career, having been thrown around a bit, I was well used to it.
“I had a really good coach, George Anderson; behind the scenes he was chatting to people in Munster and pushing me.
“It probably helped that we were successful underage. We were playing Shannon in an U-16 Munster final and then moving onto an All-Ireland final, so I was probably able to get recognised that way.
“Had we not been successful, I don’t know where I would have ended up in terms of my rugby career.”
O’Donoghue owes a lot to Waterpark for providing the platform for him to go on and captain Ireland at U-18 level before he played and captained Munster, and won two senior caps for Ireland – the last of which came on the summer tour of Japan in 2017.
For a man who came through the clubs system in a county not exactly renowned for producing international rugby players, O’Donoghue has certainly put Waterpark and Waterford rugby on the map.
“It’s tough, Waterpark are a junior club, so they’re not getting the AIL exposure that the other players are,” O’Donoghue maintains.
“What also doesn’t help Waterford is not having that university status. A lot of people leave the county to go to the likes of UCC or Dublin. We potentially do lose talent through other routes like that.
“But I definitely think Munster are a lot better now at tapping into other areas. You look at West Cork and the talent that’s coming out of there, it’s incredible.
“Even Waterford, there’s myself, Tom (Ahern), Eoin O’Connor in the Academy. We have to look further afield than just Limerick and Cork.”
O’Donoghue’s rise is a good example of the talent that is out there, as Munster continue to work hard to tap into less traditional parts of the provinces to unearth more gems like the former De La Salle student.
“I take massive pride in where I’ve come from,” O’Donoghue says.
“Being the first Waterford fella since Ben Cronin to play professional rugby… it’s probably only when I look back on my career that I will realise I have achieved a hell of a lot from where I’ve come from. That’s something I am massively proud of.
“But also, just to be able to show Tom and Eoin the pathway, and other people who haven’t come through Munster yet, that it is possible. To see these lads coming through now is incredibly enjoyable to watch.”
O’Donoghue and Ahern are part of the Munster match-day squad to take on Toulouse in today’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final, with O’Connor having made three appearances in what is his first season playing professional rugby.
In the form of his career, there have been plenty of calls for O’Donoghue to earn an Ireland recall for the summer tour of New Zealand, and while that would be just reward for his strong season, he isn’t willing to talk in depth about his international ambitions or rather, frustrations, as the case may be.
It’s all part of his new mental approach working with Caroline Currid, Munster’s sports psychologist.
“It’s something that would have consumed me,” he admits.
“I’m very much focusing on the here and now. That’s something I have done well this year, not letting that affect me and get the better of me.”
That shift in mindset has paid off and O’Donoghue knows that if he can finish the season well with Munster, it won’t be unnoticed by Andy Farrell and the Ireland coaches.
His versatility in that can comfortably play across the back-row will help his cause, and back at No 8 for this afternoon’s clash with Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium, O’Donoghue has another big opportunity to catch the eye.
“It’s a massive challenge for us, we fell short to them last year,” O’Donoghue adds.
“Going up to the Aviva for a quarter-final, there will hopefully be 40,000 people supporting us. For us to give it our all and progress to the next stage would be incredible, but we know we have a massive challenge on our hands. They have a world-class team.
“I think the way we have been playing in the last few weeks, we have much better attacking threats and being able to play from different areas, as well as our set-piece.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us, but it’s certainly one we are going to enjoy.”
