AN UNDERDO TO TOP DOG
Sheehan hails Ireland’s late developer Big Joe
DAN Sheehan says that Ireland’s new powerful weapon Joe Mccarthy can take teams apart on his own.
And ‘Big Joe’ himself believes that his rise has surprised a lot of people after a slow start.
“He’s amazing,” beamed Sheehan, basking in the glow of Ireland’s 38-17 victory over France on Friday night.
Mccarthy, along with Calvin Nash, made his Six Nations debut in the big Marseille showdown and he was named as the man of the match after a typically fiery, confrontational performance.
He’s only 22 but has the rugby world at his feet.
“It’s just energy,” said Sheehan, who brings a similar dynamism to Leinster and Ireland’s forward line.
“Young, physical... excited about every physical point of the game.
“He’s able to rip teams apart on his own, it seems. We just need to hold him back, that’s the problem!
“No, it’s great to see someone like him, who probably didn’t have the career laid out in front of him like a lot of other lads did.
“He was late into schools, he was probably always an underdog. So to be able to bounce onto the scene like he has is incredible and he’s a huge asset for us and for Leinster.”
Speaking after the game, Mccarthy acknowledged that he was never a standout player, initially, at Blackrock College.
It wasn’t until his last year in school that he made the first team – and it was his performances for Trinity College that caught Leinster’s attention.
“I never really started in school, growing up,” he said. “So it’s kind of cool to look back at the Junior 4ths teams and things like that.
“Definitely a lot of people would never have thought I’d get to this spot.
“It’s cool, but I just need to keep looking forward, there’s plenty more to do.”
The same goes for Ireland as a team and as a squad as further championship glory now beckons.
After last year’s Grand Slam triumph, Andy Farrell’s players are targeting something that Ireland have never achieved – back to back clean sweeps in the Six Nations.
Beating France in their backyard is the best start possible and Sheehan is excited about what’s ahead. “Yeah, there haven’t been too many changes to the squad,” the 25-year-old said. “That energy that we had in previous camps – whether it was World Cup or Six Nations last year – is the exact same.
“We were pretty quick to get back together and we’ve talked about it all week – this isn’t a new journey, it’s just a continuation of what we’ve done.
“We’ve been excellent for 90 per cent of what we’ve done previously so it’s just about kicking on. We’ve a lot of experience in that team, we’ve been here before, so game by game.”
Sheehan, who scored the bonus point try at a crucial time when
France reduced their deficit to seven points and Peter O’mahony was in the sin bin, was asked to rate the performance.
“It’s right up there, for me, anyway,” he said. “It’s special to be able to win against France in France, in one of those hostile environments where the crowd get in behind a good French team and it can be hard.
“We’d talked about the noise. It happened a good bit at the World Cup as well, though we probably had a few more Irish then.
“But we talked about it all week, how we could feed off it – ‘it’s going to be there, so there’s no point in trying to ignore it or phase it out, enjoy the occasion’. I was loving the warm-up. There was a good vibe.
“But yeah, it’s massive. This game two years ago was the deciding factor in a Grand Slam. Obviously it’s only the first game and we have some big games coming up, but it’s a great start and hopefully we can kick on into Italy next week.”