Conversations with Leinster’s Tommy O’Brien invariably alight on a former life as a schools 110-metre hurdles champion in Leinster and runner-up at national level. He also ran the 400-metre hurdles, highlighting how he possessed the fast-twitch fibres of a sprinter but also the stamina and endurance for the one-lap event.
It’s not his doing. Invariably he’s redirected from rugby to athletics. Sitting in UCD, the topic arose again, but this time with a twist. O’Brien was asked about Sarah Healy, the 3,000-metre European Indoor gold medal winner with whom he ran alongside for a time at Blackrock Athletic Club, Co Dublin.
“[Sarah is a] couple of years younger, the same age group as my sister. She was always incredible. I don’t think she lost an All-Ireland cross-country race from the age of 12 up. We always knew she was special, and she had an unbelievable work ethic. She had been running great times earlier in the year and now she has that European gold, which is incredible,” he said.
Why do Leinster keep signing All Blacks?
“She has gone on to do fantastic things. When I got older there weren’t too many in my age group, so I moved over to DSD [Dundrum South Dublin AC] for my last few years of school. A lot of it would have been through school. My dad [Michael] would have coached in Blackrock AC.”
O’Brien’s first love was rugby, a sport at which he excelled first as a centre in Blackrock College, then as captain of the Ireland under-20s, where he also played on the wing. The 26-year-old has been unlucky with injuries and it’s hardly a stretch to suggest that without one or two that were particularly ill-timed he’d have a couple of Ireland caps.
He’s highly regarded by the national coaching team and would have travelled on the most recent Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa but for injury. Compensation of sorts came when Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby called him into the training panel during the recent Six Nations.
“Any rugby player growing up always dreams of playing for Ireland, so that’s definitely an ambition of mine. I would have set that out at the start of the year,” O’Brien said.
“I would have been frustrated at missing that Emerging Ireland tour at the start of the year because of injury, [but] managed to play a few games recently and got called into camp, got my first taste of it during the Six Nations.
I would love to play in the summer [when Ireland play Tests against Georgia and Portugal], but the way you do that is playing and impressing for Leinster.”
So, what did he learn in his brief time with Ireland? “It was very interesting in the speed and the amount of detail, but there were a lot of familiar faces that I would know from here [at Leinster],” he said.
“It wasn’t a daunting step up at all, but it was definitely great to get an insight, especially as it was France week, a massive week in there. It was great to see the intensity and the detail.”
O’Brien’s performances since returning to Leinster colours in February have been top notch, characterised by some thunderous tackling as Sharks player Makazole Mapimpi and Harri Millard of Cardiff will attest, and the value he adds on the ball, including a try in the province’s Champions Cup quarter-final victory over the Glasgow Warriors.
Competition is fierce, and O’Brien knows that Saturday’s URC clash with Ulster at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, is another opportunity to put a down payment on a place in a European semi-final against the Northampton Saints next month.
“It is great that they are picking guys based on form. People like Max [Deegan] have gone really well in the last few weeks and he got his chance there [against Glasgow] and I played a few games and got rewarded with playing last weekend as well,” O’Brien said.
“Ulster is going to be a huge test. In an Interpro people are always up for that. It’s about putting your hand up. I feel like they [Ulster] have turned a corner in the last few weeks when they had a great comeback win against the Stormers.
“They went very well against Bordeaux, scored some great tries and they have a good few guys who have just come back from injury, especially in the backline. Their backs are humming again. They look like they are enjoying their rugby again and it will be a big test.”
