Certain players take big steps in their life with their hands on the rail. Peter O’Mahony bounded up them, two at a time.
Being an Irishman and a lover of rugby, there were many moments to feel proud at the Millennium Stadium, on Sunday.
Green was the colour as Ireland went into a dogfight off the leash and with teeth bared.
Ireland’s Call may not tick everybody’s emotional box but it’s our song. The fans took it as their anthem and bellowed it out from all four corners of the 74,000-seater stadium.
There were so many stand-out moments but Peter O’Mahony features prominently in four of them [highlighted below].
Munster assistant coach Ian Costello recalls first seeing O’Mahony training with their U19s, seven years ago. “He stood out like a beacon,” Costello said. “His skill level was incredible, his physicality was exceptional… within a week of training we knew who our captain was going to be.”
He went on to captain Munster at the age of 21 – deputising as leader during the 2011 World Cup – and his country in 2013. He will lead them again, one day soon.
In the first two minutes, the Corkman turned the ball over twice.
(1.) In the lusty, opening blows, he horsed into Frennch scrum-half Sebastian Tillous Borde just beyond the halfway line. Ball secured, Ireland piled into French bodies only to lose it, by conceding a penalty, moments later.
(2.) In less than a minute, Ireland had the ball back again. France won their lineout and tried to do some damage with a rolling maul.
O’Mahony disrupted superbly.
He soon located Eddy Ben Arous as the carrier and, getting up inside his defences, latched onto the ball. Once Devin Toner joined in, Ireland had a scrum put-in and another turnover.
His only flaw of the half arrived on 21 minutes, when he collared Guilhem Guirado to give away a penalty, which Frederic Michalak nailed from 52 metres out. He wasn’t happy about that:
(3.) O’Mahony and Sean O’Brien went hunting for vengeance, on 25 minutes, after Louis Picamoles crunched Johnny Sexton so hard [off the ball] that the Irish out-half threw up his lunch on the pitch.
The flankers – Munster and Leinster hunting in pairs – and dropped Thierry Dusatoir and Wesley Fofana in the space of five seconds before getting involved in a jersey-wringing dust-up that involved just about every forward on the pitch.
(4.) He was not finished yet. With play getting loose, late in the first half, as bodies tired, Noa Nakaitaci threatened to break down the right wing before he was hauled to the ground. France looked to quickly recycle and maintain their threat. O’Mahony slid in with his right boot and skittled a loose ball back towards the French tryline.
After the break, Ireland sensed there was a game for the taking. In his 15 second-half minutes, O’Mahony made four big carries and gained metres each time.
He was down holding his shoulder after 45 minutes but clambered back up. He was not going anywhere yet.
Finally, with Ireland 14-6 to the good, his body gave up on him.
Ireland had a scrum inside the French 22 and tested their opponents with two strong carries after the ball was quickly delivered from the set-piece.
Robbie Henshaw found O’Mahony inside him and the flanker’s truck to the line was to be his last action. Pascal Papé landed a big hit on him. It was hefty and 100% legal but whatever way O’Mahony landed, his right knee was done for.
News, today, that he will miss the rest of the World Cup is like an O’Brien jab to the stomach.
Right now, we are down.
But, as this World Cup has already shown, there is time for new heroes to step up.
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