OF THE 12-MAN Ireland squad who claimed bronze at last July’s Rugby Europe U18 Sevens championship in Strasbourg, four came through the IQ Rugby system, six came from the rest of the country, and two were from Munster.
Both Munster players were the products of Iveragh Eagles RFC, a South Kerry club born a couple of years after its latest heroes.
The annual August weekend celebrations at the picturesque club grounds in Cahirciveen were kicked up a notch last summer when Conall Cournane and Michael O’Sullivan, teammates for most of their lives, landed in with their international medals.
Aiden McNulty, the former Ireland women’s Sevens head coach and now an elite player development officer with Munster, made a presentation to the two former Coláiste na Sceilge classmates.
“People just couldn’t believe we had Ireland players who had gone and played Sevens and brought home a bronze medal,” says Tony Cournane, father of Conall and one of the founding members of the Iveragh club in 2009.
Cournane Sr, who coached both his son and Michael O’Sullivan from minis rugby up as far as U18s, described the buzz around the club this week as “massive altogether” as the players won Senior Schools Cup medals in separate provinces.
On Monday, O’Sullivan starred at openside as Blackrock College held off Terenure College at Tallaght Stadium to seal their 72nd Leinster title. It was O’Sullivan’s second medal, having also featured during ‘Rock’s 2024 campaign after transferring to the Dublin school as a boarder in Fifth Year.
On Thursday, then, Conall Cournane was at fullback for Christian Brothers College as the Cork school came from 10-0 down to edge out cross-city rivals Presentation Brothers College at Virgin Media Park, drawing level once more with PBC in the all-time standings at 32 titles apiece.
Like O’Sullivan the year before him, Cournane had left their local Coláiste na Sceilge to further his chances at a rugby career, staying in digs in Cork for his Leaving Cert year.
Both players were among the standout performers throughout their respective competitions, with O’Sullivan’s combination of brute force and ball skills turning heads in Dublin and Cournane’s sizzling, slaloming counter-attacks lighting up fields on Leeside and in Limerick.
“There aren’t too many Senior Cup medals down here!” says Tony Cournane. “So, to get two in one week is a fair achievement. You can’t put it into words, really.”
Iveragh RFC describe themselves as ‘Small but Mighty’. Their catchment area is the Iveragh Peninsula, roughly from Caherdaniel up as far as Glenbeigh. Their teams merge with Mid Kerry outfit Killorglin from U14s onwards.
Tony Cournane recalls his son’s age group as having 10 or 12 especially talented players, their team “winning most of their battles by a considerable amount”.
Conall Cournane, Michael O’Sullivan and Jake Curran — who were also teammates for Derrynane GAA Club — were among the Killorglin-Iveragh rugby talents to catch the attention of Munster at U16 level.
When Cournane progressed to the IRFU’s National Talent squad, Munster and Ireland underage coach Brendan O’Connor and physical performance coach Cathal Murtagh would travel hours to Caherdaniel to assist him with gym sessions.
Back row O’Sullivan had already moved to Dublin to further his chances at a professional rugby career, and Munster felt that high-potential fullback Cournane had also outgrown the pen in South Kerry.
“They said, ‘Look, you can’t keep playing with Killorglin-Iveragh,’” recalls Cournane’s father, Tony. “They just wanted him playing at a higher level where he’d be challenged.”
Cournane swapped Coláiste na Sceilge for Christians and put his name in the hat for further progression through his native province’s ranks with a series of exciting displays for the eventual Munster champions.
O’Sullivan, too, has continued to line out for Munster at age-grade level while attending school in Dublin. But with few genuine contenders to challenge Josh van der Flier in Leinster’s senior ranks, the Blackrock seven might yet find himself spoiled for choice when it comes to academy offers.
Tony Cournane insists that his son and O’Sullivan — “a great, great kid” — are not outliers in having the potential to make the breakthrough from their young club in Cahirciveen.
Conall’s elder sister, Annkate Cournane, played senior interpro rugby with Munster last year, while middle sibling Ellie has also played age-grade for the province and won a Sevens interpro title in 2022.
The Cournanes’ dad laughs at the modesty of his own rugby career by comparison: Tony first started playing with the newly formed Iveragh as a 42-year-old.
“I’d great craic for a couple of years”, he says, “and then the body said, ‘Hold on, now, this isn’t working.’
“But I reckoned you couldn’t coach kids unless you’d played. You had to understand how it was to hit somebody and to get hit. That was just my mindset on it, because it was always just about the young ones coming through.”
The latest talents off the Iveragh production line are the likes of Keelin O’Shea and Eliza O’Sullivan, who pulled on their province’s Sevens jersey at U16s level in 2024.
“And there are plenty more to come as well,” says the club’s co-founder.
I love reading stories like this. For all the fantastic players that have come through the schools system, the majority started off life in the club system. It’s a testament to the players, coaches, parents, committees who put in the hard work in keeping these clubs going
Great story. There are large areas of the country that are open to this type of development.
@kieran horgan: Completely agree. When youngsters playing in less traditional areas see those a few years ahead of them feature in provincial and national squads, it will hopefully boost rugby in those areas. Look at Munster and West Cork, in the last number of years alone there’s been the 2 Coombes, 2 Wycherleys, Crowley, Hodnett, Hurley. Plenty of untapped areas to be explored
@Niall Boyle: Farmer strength is a term often used. You know what it means when you’ve played against it be it in Gaelic or Rugby. It would be fertile ground for rugby players if the seeds are planted particularly forwards. It’s also part of what makes NZ rugby
@Michael Corkery: farmer strength is something that applies only in the amatuer arena. Kids from farming backgrounds in NZ( also SA and Aus) who are decent at rugby with a view to the Pro’s, generally head off to boarding school for secondary, unless they’re commutable distance to bigger towns/cities. They develop physically using modern development practices, not shifting bales by hand…
@Sea Point: True, the bales of hay and tractor tyres have been replaced by dumb bells and Creatine.
@Sea Point: rubbish, certain people have natural strength which has been acquired during generations and their youth as they needed to have it for their livelihood. Of course, that alone is a base strength that is built on when they get into a more professional setup be it a private school or academy.
@Niall Boyle: and Mike Ross before them
Great to see, jj returning and possibly 2 good lads getting into the academy will be great for munster and the kingdom.
@Treaty Jim: would love to see Jack Daly get a run without injury disruption also
@Niall Boyle: totally agree.
@Niall Boyle: Doesn’t look great for Jack, ‘last chance saloon’ maybe.
The Blackrock catchment area is pretty large…
Kudos to their scouts, but I thought that there was a Leinster School’s rule about how long a player had to be in a school before playing for their SCT?
@Phil O’ Meara: Kerry is part of cork too. These powerful schools always find a way around these “rules”
@Phil O’ Meara: Would be interesting to know what discussions took place that resulted in O’Sullivan ending up at Blackrock, rather than another Leinster school or a Cork or Limerick school. However I think the rule to which you refer (and stopped Dylan McNeice playing for St Michael’s this year) is to stop Leinster schools poaching from each other. The previous school can give permission for their former pupil to play for his new one. Doesn’t apply in this case where it seems that everyone’s a winner
@Kevin Ryan: Everyone bar Terenure!
Jaysus Whitehouse is a painful ref