Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
O’LEARY CALLS IT QUITS AFTER A TOP CAREER
TOMAS O’LEARY believes that while his rugby suffered after leaving Munster for the first time, his life off the pitch blossomed.
The former Ireland scrum-half, who announced his retirement yesterday, will go down in history as a Grand Slam winner in 2009 and played over 200 first-class games throughout his career.
The Corkman was a hugely promising hurler who won the All-ireland minor title county in turning time
with his 2001 before his attention full to rugby.
He went on to win 24 Test caps for Ireland - and also collected two Heineken Cups with his province in 2006 and 2008. After an eight-year spell with the Reds that saw him replace longtime favourite Peter Stringer in the No9 jersey, he moved to London Irish for three years when Conor Murray began to emerge.
O’leary acknowledges that period with Munster was the high point in his career when he only missed out on the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa due to injury.
“There’s no hiding away from the fact that my rugby never reached the same heights again,” he said.
“At the time Munster and Leinster were at the peak of their powers so it was a very intense period.
“You couldn’t get away from it and it was frustrating because I wasn’t playing as often as I would have liked. I needed to get out of that bubble.
“While leaving Munster might not have been a positive in rugby terms, certainly moving to London Irish opened my eyes because I was that bit more anonymous.”
O’leary returned to Munster two years ago but, after failing to make the Reds’ European roster last season, he spent four months with Montpellier as a medical joker.
“I have had an incredible career from my academy days in Munster to my last game in Montpellier, all of which have been extremely satisfying,” O’leary wrote on the Navy Blue blog.
“I have realised my ambition of representing Munster and Ireland. Wearing the red and green jerseys has been a real honour. Highlights that stand out are the two Heineken Cup victories with Munster and winning the Grand
Slam in 2009 with Ireland.”