RONAN O’GARA FIRST broached the subject of his playing retirement with Marcus Horan in early April.
On 11 April, Horan announced that 2012/13 would be his final season with Munster following a career that saw him win a Grand Slam, two Heineken Cups and become his province’s most-capped forward.
O’Gara shared many of those accolades with the looshead prop and, as his side’s number one outhalf for 13 seasons, is far and away Munster’s top points scorer in history. The Corkman is moving to Paris this summer and will take up a youth and backs coaching role with Racing Metro, who secured the kicking services of Jonny Sexton earlier this year.
Horan reveals that, although they were yet to be set in stone, O’Gara let him on his retirement plans before Munster’s narrow Heineken Cup semi-final loss to Clermont Auvergne.
He told TheScore.ie, “I knew he was going to go for it after the Clermont game. He was planning it for the last number of weeks; he told me when I let him know I would be retiring. He didn’t want to say anything until he got something solid in place.
Going abroad is probably the way to go, especially with the way the Irish coaching scene has gone. If you learn your trade somewhere else and work with some top-class players and coaches, your stock goes up. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him back at Munster, in some capacity, in a few years.”
Speaking to TheScore.ie last week, Munster scrumhalf Conor Murray declared, “It would be great to see [O'Gara] come back to Munster and maybe take a coaching role there in a few years’ time.”
“Ronan and Jonny are two very professional guys,” Horan added, “and they are going to bring a lot to Racing. The two of them, together, will raise the bar at a club like Racing Metro that have big ambitions but have not always followed it through on the field. They are bringing a huge amount to the club.”
Paulie the lionheart
Horan, who will undertake a coaching course over the summer, finishes up with the province this week after the final Munster training sessions. Six of his Munster colleagues, including newly named captain Peter O’Mahony, travel with Ireland on their North American tour while Paul O’Connell and Conor Murray are away on Lions duty.
“There are not that many miles on the clock for O’Connell this season,” said Horan, referring to the lock’s successful return from back surgery on New Year’s Eve. He commented:
The Lions will be the ultimate test for him and he’ll be a lot fresher having just returned in April. The guy is in good shape – he works so hard and stays so fit. I can see him still playing for another couple of years.
From a selfish, Munster point of view, I hope he comes back from Australia in one piece. It is important, for the stability of the team, that senior players like Paul and Donncha O’Callaghan can stick around for another while.”
Paul O’Connell is on his third Lions Tour. (©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)
“The Munster team that won the Heineken Cups grew up together,” he added. “It happened very naturally that way but now we’re all going out together.
I remember when I was starting, there were retirements too and Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) and Claw (Peter Clohessy) were the only two left. When they eventually retired it was only the two of them but Munster have had five or six guys leaving and that will always be difficult to replace.
They showed against Clermont that they can compete against the top sides. Losing the game, in the manner they did, will probably stand to them more in the long run than if they had won.”
*Marcus Horan is an active board-member with the Limerick Learning Hub.
