THERE ARE SIMILARITIES in how Hugo Keenan and Joe McCarthy forged their paths to becoming Test rugby stars.
Leinster’s Keenan was famously something of a late bloomer, rising from D team captain in Blackrock to first-choice fullback with both Leinster and Ireland.
Fellow Blackrock alumnus McCarthy also went under the radar for much of his school’s rugby days, going through a spell where he was sat on the bench for the Junior Fourths and not making the Senior Cup team until his final year.
Both stuck at it, both climbed the ladder, and now both are central parts of Andy Farrell’s plans.
Keenan, a 37-cap veteran, was typically excellent in the 38-17 defeat of France last week while McCarthy stole the show on his first Six Nations start.
Their stories serve as reminders that the door is never fully closed for those who aren’t earmarked for bigger things from an early age.
Keenan admits that McCarthy – five years his junior – wasn’t really even on his radar until the second row started making strides with Trinity and Leinster after leaving Blackrock.
“I wasn’t aware of him (in Blackrock) to be honest,” Keenan says. “Probably when he came out of school, I think I remember him in Senior Cup briefly as being as a big lad.
He was on the lower ranked teams growing up, a bit like myself, so he wasn’t this prodigy coming up the ranks. He had to dig deep, he had to earn the Big Joe title over those years.
“He’s a hard-working lad, he’s living in the gym, he does so many extras. It’s obviously a bit in his genes when you look at his brother (Leinster loosehead prop Paddy) but he has definitely put in a lot of hard work to get to his size and athleticism as well.
“I think he was well able to embrace it (in France last week). He was over in the World Cup, I know it was his first Six Nations appearance but he’s a good few appearances for Ireland now and he’s been in the squad for the last year or two and developing and maturing well, so I think he was ready, and you’ve seen some of his performances with Leinster this season, he’s been brilliant.
“Even some of the impacts he had in the World Cup as well. He’s just been biding his time to get a start in the Six Nations and it was no surprise he took it really.”
Keenan recognises some of himself in McCarthy, seeing their respective paths to the international stage as a fuel which still drives them.
I think it moulds you into having a good work ethic and work rate. I always looked at it as just trying to get on the next best team that I could.
“I was just a competitive young lad by nature, and you can see from Joe he is the exact same. Sometimes it not being handed to you easily makes you have that chip on your shoulder, some people call it, or that extra bit of drive to push on. But yeah, Joe has got brilliant energy and enthusiasm as well so I think that helps in his regard.”
Keenan and McCarthy both continue in their roles for tomorrow’s round two meeting with Italy in Dublin [KO 3pm], where Ireland will look to build on a performance that blew France away last weekend.
While the weight of a home World Cup quarter-final defeat appeared to be still hanging over France, Ireland looked energised by the opportunity to launch themselves into a new competition.
“I think the hurt from the World Cup is definitely not gone,” Keenan says.
“France aren’t the only ones – we’re still hurting, and I know the only way I can get on with things and help it is just to get back playing and I loved just getting back in with Leinster (after the World Cup).
“I liked the fact that it wasn’t the end of the season and you didn’t have a couple of months to sit on it and stew and I think a lot of lads were keen to put on the green jersey again, and we’re all privileged and lucky to be able to do it. So I suppose it was a bit of an opportunity to right a few wrongs and take a step and get over that defeat and hurt.
“I think it’s probably part of the healing process a bit.
“People deal with it in different ways. We didn’t talk about it too much as a collective but we know it’s not a new journey, it’s not a new beginning for us as a squad, it’s part of a continuation.
“We have to take learnings from the World Cup and from the previous year or two. It’s not a clean fresh slate.
“We are a lot of the same group, I know we lost one or two heads but we want to continue on that journey and that story and keep progressing as a team together and individually as well.”
