DENIS LEAMY HAS had some great days in Croke Park.
His beloved Tipperary have won plenty of All-Ireland hurling finals there. Leamy was in the crowd as a seven-year-old when the Premier County beat Antrim in 1989, the great Nicky English scoring two goals and 12 points.
Leamy was even part of the coaching staff when Tipp won their 2016 All-Ireland. The Cashel man worked as the county’s performance coach, focusing on the mental side of their game as Michael Ryan’s men marched to glory.
Leamy also has some strong memories of Croker from his time as a player with Ireland. He was at number eight the first time Ireland’s rugby team played at Croke Park in 2007, although that’s a tough memory because Vincent Clerc’s late try saw France grab victory.
But two weeks later, Leamy was central to Ireland’s hammering of England at Croker on what was an emotional occasion.
“It was as big as any European Cup final or Grand Slam decider or anything like that in isolation, and what it meant in terms of Irish history and what it did for cross-border relationships and everything like that,” said Leamy in Limerick yesterday.
“It was where all communities came together and that was very special.”
Now working as Munster’s defence coach, Leamy is helping to prepare the southern province for their second visit to Croker in two seasons to take on Leinster.
The 82,300-capacity Dublin venue was sold out for last season’s clash, with Leo Cullen’s side claiming a 26-12 victory as they took their chances more clinically than Munster.
Croker hasn’t sold out this weekend, but Leamy believes that playing at GAA HQ is still hugely significant for all involved.
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Denis Leamy and Michael Ryan after Tipp's 2016 All-Ireland. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
“Croke Park, for lots of reasons, is very special and to be back there in terms of a rugby match again between Leinster and Munster, it’s fabulous,” said Leamy.
“I think it’s one that everyone will embrace and enjoy, hopefully.
“It’s fantastic that there’s going to be 55,000 to 60,000 people there. For a rugby inter-pro, isn’t that amazing really? Ultimately, I know that the stadium was full last year, but still 60,000 in October, rugby season is really just kicking off, a lot of the county finals are kind of coming to an end, the GAA season is winding down, rugby season is starting to ramp up.
“I still think it’s brilliant to have that amount of people there.”
Leinster also beat Munster down in Thomond Park last season, enjoying a 28-7 win in Thomond Park.
Munster have only managed to win four of the last 25 matches between the provinces, but Leamy said that there is still plenty of passion in this rivalry.
“It never goes,” he said. “From our point of view, it’s always a challenge going to Dublin.
“Every time someone is going to Dublin, they’ll be hugely respectful and pay them a lot of compliments, which are all deserved. They are the best team in the league. They’ve had a huge amount of Irish players away in the summer, a huge amount of Lions.
“But we want to go up there and face that challenge, meet that challenge head-on. Tough environments, tough places to go – that’s exactly what you want and that will test our squad. That’s the game we’re in.
“And unless we’re willing and able for that challenge, go and do something else, you know? These are the games you put yourself out there for.
“The training you do, the pre-seasons you do, the sacrifices you make. These are the games where you then go out and put your best foot forward, and try to create something special.”
Leamy wants to see what it means to Munster when they defend this weekend.
Clayton McMillan’s side have conceded 10 tries in their opening three URC games this season and Leamy hopes to see much more venom in their tackling and breakdown work against Leinster.
Munster defence coach Denis Leamy. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“It’s an easy thing to say, but I feel our collisions need to get better,” said Leamy.
“We played against Edinburgh the other day, for example… they’re very much used to playing on an all-weather pitch. They train on an all-weather pitch. We train on grass pretty much 99% of the time. For the first 20 minutes, the speed of ball and speed of play, we struggled with. We just couldn’t really get enough dominant tackles to slow them down consistently for the first 20 minutes.
“And if you lose a collision in defence, I find you’re probably scrambling for the next two or three phases to get back on top again.
“So, I just thought in the first 25 minutes, we didn’t have the ability to get consistent violence in our two-man tackles, then add pressure over the ball to slow it down, and they just played on top of us and played on top of us and it was very, very difficult.
“We grew into the game then and I think we started to pressurise them a little bit more. We played the game in different areas and that just helped probably conserve our energy and re-energise us, which allowed us towards the back end of the game, when we needed, to defend to be a little bit more dominant.”
Leamy’s sense that Munster’s defence needs to improve reflects how they feel about all areas of their game.
While they’re delighted with a 100% winning start to the season, giving them a tally of 14 points from a possible 15, Munster believe there is more to come.
“We would feel ourselves and, you know, we’d be very honest, I think we haven’t hit our straps as much as we’d like,” said Leamy.
“There are areas that we need to improve absolutely and it’s probably the right time of the season. It’s early doors, it’s still October and if you have things to iron out, you want it to be at this stage of the season.
“So yes, we’re a work in progress and obviously we’ve had changes with Clayton coming in and a number of management moving on as well. So there’s going to be little things to be ironed out along the way, but I think there’s a lot more positives than negatives.”
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'Unless we’re able for this challenge, go and do something else'
DENIS LEAMY HAS had some great days in Croke Park.
His beloved Tipperary have won plenty of All-Ireland hurling finals there. Leamy was in the crowd as a seven-year-old when the Premier County beat Antrim in 1989, the great Nicky English scoring two goals and 12 points.
Leamy was even part of the coaching staff when Tipp won their 2016 All-Ireland. The Cashel man worked as the county’s performance coach, focusing on the mental side of their game as Michael Ryan’s men marched to glory.
Leamy also has some strong memories of Croker from his time as a player with Ireland. He was at number eight the first time Ireland’s rugby team played at Croke Park in 2007, although that’s a tough memory because Vincent Clerc’s late try saw France grab victory.
But two weeks later, Leamy was central to Ireland’s hammering of England at Croker on what was an emotional occasion.
“It was as big as any European Cup final or Grand Slam decider or anything like that in isolation, and what it meant in terms of Irish history and what it did for cross-border relationships and everything like that,” said Leamy in Limerick yesterday.
“It was where all communities came together and that was very special.”
Now working as Munster’s defence coach, Leamy is helping to prepare the southern province for their second visit to Croker in two seasons to take on Leinster.
The 82,300-capacity Dublin venue was sold out for last season’s clash, with Leo Cullen’s side claiming a 26-12 victory as they took their chances more clinically than Munster.
Croker hasn’t sold out this weekend, but Leamy believes that playing at GAA HQ is still hugely significant for all involved.
“Croke Park, for lots of reasons, is very special and to be back there in terms of a rugby match again between Leinster and Munster, it’s fabulous,” said Leamy.
“I think it’s one that everyone will embrace and enjoy, hopefully.
“It’s fantastic that there’s going to be 55,000 to 60,000 people there. For a rugby inter-pro, isn’t that amazing really? Ultimately, I know that the stadium was full last year, but still 60,000 in October, rugby season is really just kicking off, a lot of the county finals are kind of coming to an end, the GAA season is winding down, rugby season is starting to ramp up.
“I still think it’s brilliant to have that amount of people there.”
Leinster also beat Munster down in Thomond Park last season, enjoying a 28-7 win in Thomond Park.
Munster have only managed to win four of the last 25 matches between the provinces, but Leamy said that there is still plenty of passion in this rivalry.
“It never goes,” he said. “From our point of view, it’s always a challenge going to Dublin.
“Every time someone is going to Dublin, they’ll be hugely respectful and pay them a lot of compliments, which are all deserved. They are the best team in the league. They’ve had a huge amount of Irish players away in the summer, a huge amount of Lions.
“But we want to go up there and face that challenge, meet that challenge head-on. Tough environments, tough places to go – that’s exactly what you want and that will test our squad. That’s the game we’re in.
“And unless we’re willing and able for that challenge, go and do something else, you know? These are the games you put yourself out there for.
“The training you do, the pre-seasons you do, the sacrifices you make. These are the games where you then go out and put your best foot forward, and try to create something special.”
Leamy wants to see what it means to Munster when they defend this weekend.
Clayton McMillan’s side have conceded 10 tries in their opening three URC games this season and Leamy hopes to see much more venom in their tackling and breakdown work against Leinster.
“It’s an easy thing to say, but I feel our collisions need to get better,” said Leamy.
“We played against Edinburgh the other day, for example… they’re very much used to playing on an all-weather pitch. They train on an all-weather pitch. We train on grass pretty much 99% of the time. For the first 20 minutes, the speed of ball and speed of play, we struggled with. We just couldn’t really get enough dominant tackles to slow them down consistently for the first 20 minutes.
“And if you lose a collision in defence, I find you’re probably scrambling for the next two or three phases to get back on top again.
“So, I just thought in the first 25 minutes, we didn’t have the ability to get consistent violence in our two-man tackles, then add pressure over the ball to slow it down, and they just played on top of us and played on top of us and it was very, very difficult.
“We grew into the game then and I think we started to pressurise them a little bit more. We played the game in different areas and that just helped probably conserve our energy and re-energise us, which allowed us towards the back end of the game, when we needed, to defend to be a little bit more dominant.”
Leamy’s sense that Munster’s defence needs to improve reflects how they feel about all areas of their game.
While they’re delighted with a 100% winning start to the season, giving them a tally of 14 points from a possible 15, Munster believe there is more to come.
“We would feel ourselves and, you know, we’d be very honest, I think we haven’t hit our straps as much as we’d like,” said Leamy.
“There are areas that we need to improve absolutely and it’s probably the right time of the season. It’s early doors, it’s still October and if you have things to iron out, you want it to be at this stage of the season.
“So yes, we’re a work in progress and obviously we’ve had changes with Clayton coming in and a number of management moving on as well. So there’s going to be little things to be ironed out along the way, but I think there’s a lot more positives than negatives.”
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