It was this time six years ago that Dave Kilcoyne was preparing for his senior Munster debut. He made his bow against Connacht on December 26, 2011, and has been a vital member of the squad ever since.
“I remember it well as it was John Hayes’ last game,” he says. “I can remember being incredibly nervous – it’s your first game and you can never replace those feelings. No matter how much people told me not to be nervous, I’ll never forget, I was extremely nervous.
“But then you get on the pitch and it goes away. I never get nervous any more.”
To Kilcoyne, he is exactly where he wants to be. 140 games in for Munster [and 22 for Ireland], ‘Killer’ will pack down against Leinster at Thomond Park on December 26. He won’t be directly in contact with Jack McGrath, unless they meet in the loose or at the breakdown, but their performances will be closely watched by Ireland coach Joe Schmidt.
Cian Healy was the man in possession of the green No.1 jersey in November but his three-week ban has given Kilcoyne and McGrath, who will captain Leinster, a couple of windows in which to press their Six Nations claims.
Loose-head has always been a hotly contested area in the Ireland pack and this season is no different, with both Healy and Kilcoyne pushing 2017 Lion McGrath extremely hard. The Munster prop has been in great form this season and, once again, showed some serious determination and class in imposing back-to-back defeats on Leicester Tigers.
He may come across as a laid-back character – and he is – but the Limerick native is part of a leadership core at the province.
Kilcoyne, like many of the current Munster squad, finds himself in a position where he is coached by two men – Jerry Flannery and Felix Jones – who he came up at the club playing with. Both men like to take active parts in sessions – on-field and off – when they can but Kilcoyne insists the next generation have made their mark.
Flannery’s gym records are no more, it seems. Kilcoyne remarks:
“Don’t mind that. Jerry knows I broke all those records when I was around 23.
“I still hold the record for the max bench [press] in here. Not to brag but… 187.5 kilos, not that I remember exactly! That was years ago but that record still stands and it will probably never be beaten.”
187.5 kg works out as a shade over 413 pounds [just under 29-and-a-half stone].
This is not the actual footage but it will give you some idea of Kilcoyne’s feat:
It’s little wonder that the record has not been beaten.
In terms of the Ireland team gym records, Cian Healy and Peter O’Mahony are the current squat and CMJ [Counter Movement Jump] top dogs.
*The full Dave Kilcoyne interview will feature in the December 28 episode of The Hard Yards podcast
