How GAA primed Baird for the big stage in rugby
Former coaches reflect on Leinster ace’s rise ahead of PRO14 showpiece
LONG before Ryan Baird was blazing a trail on the international rugby stage, he was tormenting hurling and football defences with his towering frame and ferocious power.
For all that he may have come through the famed St Michael’s College system, Baird owes much of his development to his days when he harnessed his skills on the GAA pitch with Naomh Olaf.
Throughout his 10 years playing with the Sandyford-based club, those who watched Baird become a stand-out footballer hoped against hope that he would ignore rugby’s advances and stick with the oval ball.
A single-figure handicapper playing out of The Castle Golf Club, Baird has always enjoyed sporting success, but coming from a grounded family, education has been just as important in shaping the man he has become today.
The 21-year-old’s parents Siobhan and Andrew, who is a former Leinster Branch referee, have been key drivers in that, as Baird is currently on a scholarship in Trinity, where he is studying Computer Science and Business.
Ryan’s brothers Cameron and Zach (a talented young hooker coming through at Michael’s) have also been there every step of the way.
According to Baird’s former football coach John O’brien, it was Siobhan who first came up with the bright idea of bringing her son down to Olaf’s, after she saw Luke Fitzgerald on TV singing the praises of the club with whom he also starred throughout his under-age days.
O’brien remembers the day Baird first arrived down for Under-7s training, right up to his last game for the Under-16s, at which point he had already moved from The High School to Michael’s, where rugby really took hold.
“The last three games Ryan played for us was U16s in the Division 1 League that year,” O’brien, a past chairperson of
LEINSTER v MUNSTER
Olaf’s, recalled. “We played all the big clubs, Vincent’s, Cuala and Naomh Fionnbarra. The last game he played, he only came on for the second half because he was minding himself for the rugby.
“He came on and he buried two goals. We stuck him in full-forward and all we did was kick the ball into him. He would be in full-forward, but for the kick out he would be told to go out to midfield, get the ball and give it to Ronan Watters (former Ireland U20 international) or Luke Doran (former Dublin minor) and get straight back in.
“If he didn’t win the ball himself, he just knocked it down for someone else. Lads had an awful job catching him or taking the ball off him once he got it. And if he got a free run, forget about it!”
Paul Lyons was Baird’s hurling coach in Olaf’s, and he too remembers his pure raw ability.
“Ryan was a beast,” Lyons said. “You put him in at full-forward and he took some stopping. It was all about getting the ball to him because no one could take it off him.
“He was dominant. Any position on the pitch we would put him into, he dominated.
“Whether we played him at full-back or full-forward or midfield, he would have been dominant.”
Olaf’s knew they had a potential star on their hands, but the problem for them was so too did Michael’s, as Baird was also quickly on Leinster’s radar.
His growth spurt coincided with the last of his GAA playing days, before he focused all of his attention on rugby and filling out his 6ft 6in frame to become a supreme athlete.
“I remember when he was around 15, he was playing a lot of rugby in school and at that stage you could really see him start to develop as a player,” Lyons said. “Most of our lads were scrawny fellas, but Ryan had a bit of muscle and bulk on him that was coming from the rugby.”
O’brien echoes those sentiments and is in no doubt that Baird could have reached the Dublin set-up.
“Once he went to Michael’s, that was the turning point,” O’brien admitted. “The night we were beaten in the minor county final, he was saying he would have to make his mind up, but he said, ‘I’m 51% going to stick with the GAA, 49% I’m going with the rugby’.
“Then a month later, he came back and said he was going into the Leinster set-up and off he went. He definitely could have gone on to play senior football with Dublin.”
For all of his undoubted talent, however, it was Baird’s incredibly driven mindset that often caught the attention of his coaches.
“Ryan was relentless, but he never looked for attention,” O’brien maintained.
“He was always just focused, nothing would distract him. I remember one U13 game, a big row broke out, but the other lads would just bounce off him. He would be smiling away to himself.”
O’brien and Lyons are relishing the chance to welcome Baird and his family back to Olaf’s some time in the future when the world becomes a bit more normal again.
The club’s supporters’ app has been buzzing over the last few weeks as Baird won his first three Ireland caps.
There is genuine goodwill towards one of their own and come five o’clock this evening, the Olaf’s crowd will be glued to the TV as they hope to see Baird come off the bench and help Leinster beat Munster in the PRO14 final.
“The pride is massive,” O’brien added. “Any kid who is 11, 12, 13, seeing someone like Ryan Baird having played both sports, will absolutely be driven to follow in his footsteps.”
Dublin GAA’S loss has certainly been Irish rugby’s gain.