SINCE DEBUTING FOR Ireland on a two-game tour to Japan in 2022, where Dannah O’Brien started both matches, the out-half has been almost ever-present in the starting XV. 

From O’Brien’s first cap against the Sakura XV to Sunday’s win over Spain, Ireland have played a total of 28 games, with O’Brien starting 25 of those.

It’s quite the run for a player who is still only 21 (she turns 22 later this month). While O’Brien debuted under Greg McWilliams, current Ireland head coach Scott Bemand has invested heavily in the young 10, with her skillset suiting the game he wants to implement.

Bemand has spoken about using the multi-sport background of so many of his Ireland players to their advantage, and with O’Brien previously representing Carlow in Gaelic football, her kicking game has grown to become a huge part of Ireland’s identity.

This is also a strength Ireland’s kicking coach, Gareth Steenson, has spoken about: “We’re very fortunate in Ireland with the GAA background and a lot of girls have a natural ability to kick the ball. We’ve kickers right across the board and Dannah is leading that.”

Alongside that kick threat, Ireland also have plenty of pace and skill across the backline in players like Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan, Béibhinn Parsons and Anna McGann, but when they want to play for territory O’Brien’s left boot is one of the go-to weapons.

Her kicking off the tee has generally been strong – landing six from six in the World Cup opener against Japan before a more frustrating day against Spain.

However O’Brien’s tactical kicking against Spain was excellent, and helped Ireland put their opponents under pressure on numerous occasions. Against Spain O’Brien kicked as many times (13) as she passed the ball with her hands.

In the opening minute O’Brien pinned Spain into their own 22 with a well-measured kick to the corner.

As Ireland made another fast start in Northampton, O’Brien’s boot triggered the move which led to their opening try – scored by O’Brien, her first for Ireland.

First, the out-half drops an excellent kick into the Spanish backfield. Spain out-half Zahia Perez is hesitant to collect the dropping ball, which bounces awkwardly as Costigan swoops in to steal possession.

Ireland flood numbers forward and recycle the ball before a big carry from Ellena Perry gains more ground, and quick hands sends O’Brien over for her first try in a green jersey.

“Incredible, it only took 28 caps but we got there in the end,” O’Brien said. “[It was a] Team try like, I think we had a decent start.”

O’Brien then showed good hands as McGann scored Ireland’s bonus-point try shortly before half time. Taking a close pass from Molly Scuffil-McCabe, O’Brien lets Aoife Dalton run the decoy line before shifting the ball out the back to Stacey Flood, who finds McGann out wide. It’s accurate, sharp play from the Ireland backs.

O’Brien’s place kicking was a different story, dropping from a 100% success rate against Japan to three missed conversions and a penalty that struck the post. O’Brien spoke about that mixed return post-game.

“When you miss it’s just about the next job and trying to fix your mistakes. I suppose you can’t really think about it too much, just focus on the next job. And thankfully I came back and scored a few towards the end of the game.”

The Carlow native has underlined her importance to the team across Ireland’s first two pool games, yet while the desire to get as much experience and gametime into a young out-half leading into a World Cup was understandable, Ireland have been hesitant to spread the experience around when it comes to the 10 shirt.

As it stands, any injury to O’Brien would result in someone else stepping into out-half having had next to no time in the saddle. Across O’Brien’s long hold on the 10 jersey, Nicole Fowley has started twice at out-half (v France & USA 2024) with Nicole Cronin starting once (v Wales 2023). Fowley is in the World Cup squad but has not made the matchday 23 yet. Enya Breen, a centre by trade, has played well when used at out-half off the bench and showed some nice touches against Spain, while Flood used to play at out-half before making fullback her home.

For the most part, the responsibility rests solely on O’Brien’s shoulders and she’s now one of the key players Ireland will be hoping to keep fit and available as they take on New Zealand on Sunday before moving into the quarter-finals, and hopefully, beyond.

To do that, they’ll need to shake off some of the errors which blotted the performances against Japan and Spain.

“We’re just going to focus on ourselves, like just cutting out small errors in our own half of the pitch, and not giving teams opportunities to pin us in,” O’Brien said.

“It’s definitely going to be all about us, all about putting out another good performance. We’re massively excited to go out next week.

“This week we kind of focused on not getting too settled as a squad in our environment, we know we’re going to get on the road now again. So yeah, I think we’re just excited to move on to a different venue. It’s going to be a massive crowd there next week, so we’re really excited for that.”