From Club To Lions: O’Mahony & Murray

The eyes of five nations will be watching this Saturday, as Munster captain Peter O’Mahony leads the British & Irish Lions take on New Zealand in their first test at Eden Park.

The Lions bring together the best players from across Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, and in among the action Munster representatives from Cork and Limerick are both set to pull on a different kind of red jersey, fighting to win the glory for the Lions, and make it their first successful tour to New Zealand since 1971.

O’Mahony is embarking on his first tour as a Lion, and having already shown his incredible leadership skills during a tough and emotional season with Munster, is now amazingly set to captain the test side against the All-Blacks following a standout tour thus far.

Yet another Lion to have raised on the pitches of Temple Hill, Peter’s father John – affectionately known as ‘Con John’ for the amount of work he puts into the club – is incoming President next year, but has left Temple Hill far behind and will be taking a seat in Eden Park to see his son make more history, becoming only the second Con man to captain a Lions test side, following in the footsteps of Tom Kiernan almost 70 years ago.

“Peter started playing at Cork Con at U7s” recalled Honorary Secretary of the club Kevin Fielding.

“Simon Zebo was in the same underage team as him, and having won a Senior Cup title with Pres he came back to us to play a number of seasons of AIL, winning the All-Ireland Cup and several other trophies with the club.

“We had an anniversary dinner for the 125^th anniversary of the club which was an obviously brilliant year for us, winning the All-Ireland League, Bateman Cup, Munster Senior Cup, and Cork County Cup amongst other things, but Peter was our special guest with his Lions inclusion, but we had no idea at that stage that he would be made captain.

“Peter is a huge inspiration to the players within the club, and even a week before heading over to New Zealand he called around to give the U16 Munster Shield winners their medals, so he’s still very much involved in the club.”

“We’ve had lots of Lions players and lots of captains, but being only the second to captain a test side is a significant achievement; interestingly the last time the Lions beat New Zealand at Eden Park, our own Noel Murphy was on the side.”

No pressure then for O’Mahony, not that the Corkonian hasn’t thrived on it thus far, and a there will be a packed crowd, no doubt, back in Ballintemple, to cheer the Munster captain on.

For Conor Murray meanwhile, this marks his second Lions tour, having been involved in the series win in Australia in 2013.

Murray, a graduate of St Munchin’s, followed in the footsteps of his father Gerry to join Garryowen FC having gone to a blitz at U12 level, as well as having a serious pedigree in Gaelic Games, representing Limerick at intercounty level in both codes.

This week gave the famous Limerick club yet another chance to stop and appreciate their talented scrum-half, and Honorary Secretary Geraldine Morrissey underlined what Murray means to the club.

“Of course the club is tremendously proud of Conor and his rise to the top” she said.

“He always showed great potential and graduated to the 1st XV from U20 level when only 18.  He is always available to the club if called on to do any work with sponsors, is a very personable young man, and will come out to support the club if his commitments to Munster and Ireland allow.”

The British & Irish Lions take on New Zealand in the first test at Eden Park in Auckland, kick-off 8.35am Irish time.