WHEN IRELAND RUN out at Musgrave Park for their U20 Six Nations opener next Friday night, nobody in green will have waited as patiently for the opportunity than Craig Casey.
The Munster scrum-half was in contention for last year’s championships but was cruelly denied the chance to represent Noel McNamara’s Ireland when he suffered another injury setback, not long after making his return from knee surgery.
A procedure to remove an ingrown hair on his back presented further complications and just when the 19-year-old was getting back to full fitness during pre-season with Munster, he tore the meniscus in his other knee.
Casey had undergone three operations in the space of a 14-month period, but credits the support systems in place at Munster for keeping him in a positive frame of mind at a time when he was looking to build on the promise he showed at schools and underage level.
“I think you just deal with it,” he says. “Injuries happen but I think there’s a lot of support in Munster, in fairness. You’re always kept in the loop with the seniors. If you want to meet the senior coaches, they’re open to it.
“But at the time my sister had a fairly serious back surgery. Just kind of seeing her trying to walk again and stuff like that, that’s kind of inspiring enough. Your injuries go to the back of your mind really and you just get on with it, you’re happy to be training and happy to be walking around.”
Having been a standout performer for Ardscoil Rís, captaining the Limerick school to the semi-final of the Munster Senior Schools Cup in 2017, Casey represented both his province and Ireland at U18 level.
A return to fitness has also allowed the nine to get senior minutes under his belt with boyhood club Shannon RFC in the All-Ireland League, as he continues to make up for lost time.
“It’s a step up I suppose,” Casey continues. “It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was four. I’ve always been around the squad [Shannon]. My father coached the AIL winning team in 2009. My uncle played for Shannon, Mossy Lawler.
“I’ve always kind of been in and around Shannon setups. To play for them, it’s massive. It’s a step up in games so you’re ready for this sort of rugby [U20s].”
Given everything he has been through, being named in McNamara’s squad for the U20 Six Nations was a huge honour for Casey, and certainly something he didn’t take for granted.
In addition, he has been named vice-captain alongside Leinster’s Charlie Ryan as part of an overall leadership group with skipper David Hawkshaw.
“It’s a massive honour,” he said at last week’s squad announcement in Dublin. “It’s a very exciting squad. So to be named in it, it’s pretty good, it’s pretty big.
“I was captain of Ardscoil. I suppose there’s a lot of leaders in the group who are not even in the leadership group. A lot of the lads have captained their schools and stuff like that. I think the leadership group, they’ll kind of work with the players more than a hierarchy I suppose. Yeah, there’s a lot of lads that are leaders and I think they’ll help each other.”
After games against Leinster and Munster development sides over Christmas, Ireland stepped up preparations for the championship with a four-day training camp in Fota Island this week.
England on the opening night of the campaign provides a formidable challenge first up, but with Ireland’s home games now set for Musgrave Park in Cork, Casey — along with the squad’s other Munster players — are looking forward to representing their country down south.
“Not just for the Munster lads, for the Irish U20 lads, it’s now our home and we’re the only international side to play in Cork,” he adds. “I suppose if we do it well, hopefully, we’ll get a big massive crowd out for us and build on it for years to come.
“It’s a development window for us as players but the ultimate goal is to win it. England are pretty stacked in the first game and that’s going to be a learning curve for us and hopefully, we’ll get the win in that game. It’s just good to be playing against players of that quality.”
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