Ronan O’Gara was reluctant to do so but Felix Jones welcomed his former teammate and his three boys in.
Last Saturday, O’Gara was back in Limerick and back at Thomond Park.
He would have hoped his Racing 92 side would have been competing in the Champions Cup knock-outs stages but Munster saw to that. With a weekend free from coaching duties, he headed home and brought his three boys along to a ground he had graced for 16 seasons.
Rua O’Gara had been on the Stade de la Mosson pitch in Montepellier back in 2013 when O’Gara bowed out as a Munster player. Four years on and he was joined by his brothers at Thomond Park and sat beside a father that lived every moment of Munster’s 41-16 victory.
O’Gara told The Hard Yards [from 31:50 below] just how much the trip home meant to him and his sons.
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-10-rog-on-joining-irish-setup-joey-carberys-potential-and-the-art-of-working-a-referee
O’Gara had returned to the Limerick ground for the Champions Cup pool game, when Munster beat Glasgow, just a week after coach Anthony Foley had passed away.
“That was a totally different occasion,” he said. “Our heads were in a different place.”
“The great thing about this weekend is that I went with my three boys,” he continued.
“It’s because they don’t know what Thomond Park is, and it’s important that they know what Thomond Park is.
“So we took a day out and went to a Young Munster luncheon with Mike Prendergast and then into Thomond Park, where we had great seats.
“I was kind of edgy going into the changing rooms [after the game] but I went down and met Felix Jones, who said, ‘Go on in. Of course go in’.
“That was great because the kids were asking ‘Can we go to the vestiaire?’ because they don’t know what the dressing room is in English. ‘Dad, can we go to the vestiaire?’. Of course, we’ll go down.
“When I went in, it was fantastic. It was like I never left the place. Jerry Flannery was there and all the medical team and coaches and all the players.
“I know there’s a new generation and a big figure like me can have an intimidating presence but it didn’t feel like that one bit.”
O’Gara’s misty recollections were then interrupted by a laughing Geordan Murphy. The Cork native’s former Ireland teammate remarked that the laughter was do to ‘you talking yourself up’!
O’Gara didn’t protest but he didn’t complain either.
