Ronan O’Gara told a class tale about bringing the wrong kicking tee to a Munster game.
Many sportspeople are superstitious. Favourite song, meal, drive to the ground, lucky socks. It’s part of who they are now. Part of the routine.
“Some lads would have to put their right sock on before their left one,” recalled former Tipperary hurler Larr Corbett on SportsJOE Live.
The comment sparked some dressing room memories for O’Gara, who then offered a light-hearted insight to his time with Munster and Ireland. O’Gara said:
“Donncha O’Callaghan has two or three socks that have to go on. The towel has to go down first. There’s a method to everything.”
The Cork native is thankful that sporting changing rooms remain, relatively, sacred and that TV cameras are not fixed to give viewers at home a gawk at what really goes on.
“The greatest thing about sport is the 20 minutes before kick-off and the 20 minutes after, because the public don’t get any of it and you see exactly what your teammates are made of.
“You look into their eyes and you think ‘This guy is going to opt out on me today’ or ‘This guy is going to do absolutely everything without even asking him’.
“It’s so important that the public don’t see that, but the way things are going at the moment you may well have seats in the dressing room next.”
Had cameras been in the Munster changing room, a few years back, they would have caught O’Gara freaking out because he had left a vital piece of his goal-kicking equipment at home. He commented:
“The mind is such a weapon and such a weakness. Ah, it torments ya. You’d be driven demented.
“I could have two [kicking] tees the exact same but if I kick with this tee during the week then, all of a sudden, realise on game day it’s, ‘Holy Jesus, ring Jess and tell her this tee needs to get to Thomond Park!’
“Laugh all you want but I’d be thinking that one tee could be a tiny bit higher. It plays wicked games with you.”
O’Gara certainly took his goal-kicking seriously.
That, allied with his fierce commitment and unflinching honesty, made him a legend for province and country.
