FORMER IRELAND HEAD coach Eddie O’Sullivan will take the reins at Old Belvedere from next season following the departure of Paul Cunningham after four years at the helm.
O’Sullivan assisted the departing Cunningham during his final three months in charge during which his side were crowned Leinster Senior League champions.
The side, however, suffered relegation from the top flight while also losing both the Ulster Bank Bateman Cup and Leinster Senior Cup finals.
In confirming Cunningham’s departure on Wednesday, Club President Willie Norse thanked the long-serving head coach, who also acted as Director of Rugby during his tenure at the club.
“Paul Cunningham has stood down as head coach to our senior team. We thank him for his huge input over the last number of seasons, not only with the senior side, but also throughout our club, from Minis to Women’s to Juniors and Under-20s.”
Taking his place is 58-year-old O’Sullivan, whose last coaching role saw him take charge of Biarritz Olympique where he oversaw a 7th place finish in the Pro D2, departing just three games into the 2015/16 season following a poor start to the campaign.
“Eddie is fully committed to Old Belvedere, and he is already hard at work putting in place structures, speaking with our existing players and assisting with player recruitment, as we seek to strengthen our panel”, said Norse.
O’Sullivan has a wealth of experience coaching at the elite level of rugby, working with Connacht, the Barbarians, USA Eagles and Biarritz Olympique.
He guided the Ireland Under-21s to their first ever Triple Crown in 1996 and followed up in 2004 with Ireland’s first Triple Crown at senior level in 19 years.
The Corkman also coached Ireland at two Rugby World Cups, producing a 64% win ratio, three Triple Crowns, two spells at number 3 in the World Rugby Rankings during his seven-year tenure.
Wednesday also saw experienced hooker Ed Rossister confirmed as captain of Old Belvedere for 2017/18.
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I personally would prefer a mediocre team with a majority of which irish than a world class team packed with foreign players eligible.
*that are eligible
I agree Francis, what’s the point in international football otherwise, might as well just have club football if players can switch countries as well
Noble is about as Irish as a jellied eel!
Jon Flanagan would be a nice addition to our squad. I always looked on Ireland as defensively sound and average in midfield and attack, but our current defense is shocking… Other teams will definitely target that
Mark Noble at West Ham as well by all accounts
I understand why English players who are substandard go for the Irish option as it means international football and a boos in their paypacket, but I can’t get my head around McCarthy and McGeady. Born and bred Scots, certain to make their national team (if they can make ours) but they opt for a foreign country? Weird.
It isn’t surprising at all when you see naked sectarianism in west Scotland, like N Ireland.
Both have grandparents who were irish and had to move to Scotland for work reasons and brought up there kids as irish In a foreign land and both had great respect for there parents and grandparents heritage I for 1 have no problem with them playing for Ireland . Plenty of players out there who have jumped on the international bandwagon like Matt holland who sang god save the queen I think 4 Ipswich at wembley in d play offs and turned up 4 a friendly a few days later playing 4 Ireland the likes of that makes me wonder
Mccarthys on record as saying his granddad made him promise on his death bed that if he ever got good enough for international soccer that he would play for his homeland Ireland. Hard to say no to that in all fairness.
While Stephen Ireland is on record as saying that when his grandmother was on her death bed that.. oh no wait
His ‘grandmothers’ you mean Noel? Cork lads are allowed several .
Interesting how people question the plastic paddies now who played in the past. But when they actually helped get Ireland places no one had any problem with it.
Marie, the secatrian angle makes a bit more sense, thanks. I’m not sure if deathbed promises and/or ancestral lineage would play a part (if I had an English grandfather, would I consider playing for England? No) but they might be heightened if they were subjected to sectarianism and felt unloved by a significant percentage of the population.
I think that is unfair tbh. Matt played well for Ireland and was very happy to play for us, as was a lot of English lads. He was also born and reared in England – so he was entitled to sing that national anthem. We have to get over this crap.
John Lydon summed it up. In England he was considered Irish and in Ireland he was considered English. So he was both, and there was very little difference anyway, he said.
Significant populations in West Scotland still consider themselves Irish before British. The opposite to N Ireland I guess.
When a lot of the other teams goad Celtic fans with “the famine song” what do they expect? Not just Rangers.
Anyway, a lot of countries do this. Italy have done it several times with some players.
Rossi is from New Jersey? Christian Vieri was an Aussie! They had a few Argentinians..some Swiss (Di Matteo) and wasn’t there an English born player..name escapes me.
Doubt they would care if Rossi sang Star-Spangled Banner if he ever made it back to play in the MLS..
Can’t believe Trigger has inspired a debate on the virtues of players nurtured by Irish grassroots football versus granny rulers, the serious issues of sectarianism in Scottish society or intellectual arguments around degrees of ethno-national allegiances!
To recap: Trigger believes there are Irish qualified players out there that would definitely strengthen the squad but he can’t name one for certain.