There are few finer days in the career of a rugby player, from these shores, than being named in an Irish & British Lions squad.
There have been 807 Lions players since the first tour in 1899. This afternoon, there will be another 20-odd names added to that illustrious list and a host of them will be Irish.
Tomás O’Leary is one of 118 Irish players to have been named in a Lions squad. He recalled the experience in a blog on Told & Co.
Having starred for Munster and Ireland in the 2008/09 season, and with a Grand Slam win behind him, O’Leary was named in Ian McGeechan’s Lions squad to tour South Africa.
O’Leary says he was ‘quietly confident I had done enough to make the squad’ but there was an air of apprehension down at Munster’s old gym in Forge Hill, Cork as he watched the announcement with Donncha O’Callaghan, academy players and some strength and conditioning staff. He writes:
‘Seeing my mugshot pop up alongside Mike Phillips and Harry Ellis as the scrum-halves was somewhat surreal. In the immediate aftermath I was bombarded by texts and phone calls and the buzz and excitement of the impending Lions tour really began to resonate.’
He was so delighted with his inclusion that he quickly forgave the Lions officials for making a hames of spelling his first name…
Check out my first blog post talking Lions selection! Throwback to 8 years ago!They didn't even spell my name right! https://t.co/vDjGv0Iu0V pic.twitter.com/GFKB9N9CHQ
— Tomás O'Leary (@tomas_oleary9) April 19, 2017
The joy was short-lived for the scrum-half and he only got to experience life as a Lion for a few days. He continues:
‘Sadly, my Lions dream only lasted a mere 72 hours as I broke my leg and dislocated my ankle playing with Munster vs. Scarlets on the following Friday night.
‘The injury had a massive and profound impact. I was devastated. The impending weeks were absolutely heart-breaking.’
The full blog from O’Leary is definitely worth a read. You can check it out here.
