Pic: Another great photo from Paul O’Connell’s long, lost swimming career

To think, we nearly lost Paulie to the pool.

While Paul O'Connell is set to go down as one of Ireland's greatest ever rugby players, who knows what would have happened had he not been lured by the bright lights of Young Munster's Tom Clifford Park. Before he found his calling on the rugby pitch, O'Connell was a keen swimmer, something he's often spoken about in the past. And his will to win was clearly something he didn't pick up overnight, if this picture from his youth is anything to go by. Here's eight-year-old Paulie holding his cherished trophy from an U10 gala at Askeaton Swimming club way back in 1988. In time, O'Connell surely realised that he could only inflict psychological pain on his opponents in the pool, opting instead for the killing fields of Limerick rugby. Although, had he stuck at it, we're fairly certain he'd have made a decent shot at it.