Mark Donnelly | “It’s Great To Be Back In With A Good Group Of Lads”

Garryowen prop Mark Donnelly is eagerly awaiting an opportunity in green with the 2021 U20 Six Nations on the horizon.

Former CBC prop Donnelly was a part of the extended 2020 U20 Six Nations squad earlier this year but did not get an opportunity to pull on a green jersey as the competition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the 2021 edition of the competition due to kick off in early February, preparations are already underway as an extended 37-man group from the IRFU National Talent Squads recently took part in an intense two-day training camp at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre.

Donnelly, who won a Munster Schools Senior Cup with CBC in 2019, is excited to be back out on the pitch.

“It has been great to be fair,” Donnelly told Irish Rugby.

“It’s unreal to be back out and it has been a long time coming, really. We’ve all been doing our own stuff for the last few months and training on your own, it gets monotonous after a while and it’s just great to be back in with a good group of lads.”

Mark Donnelly and Scott Buckley during the 2019 Munster Schools Senior Cup Final

Donnelly is keen to put his best foot forward over the coming weeks after first getting a taste of what international camp was like earlier this year.

“Obviously, the experience of being here last year does help you and it helps you know what you need to do and be prepared and all that. But, it’s totally different this year with all the protocols and all the different things that have to be done around the camp. It’s just a matter of getting used to all of them and making sure we’re up to the standards inside of the camp.”

Donnelly added:

“Definitely (excited about the next few weeks), yeah. Because I didn’t get a shot really last year to play and to be honest, this year now, it’s really the last year I’ll get a shot to play this (U20s). It’s the same for a lot of us out here so we’re all really trying to show what we can do out on the pitch and we’re all very competitive at the moment.”

Donnelly has had some competitive rugby in recent times as he was involved for Munster 7s in the IRFU’s inaugural HPC Sevens Series and also for Munster A in the interprovincial clashes with Ulster A and Leinster A.

Before this, as the prop explains, a lot of his training was completed in isolation so he is now enjoying preparation in a group setting as the countdown to the 2021 U20 Six Nations begins in earnest.

“The last few months have gone fairly well. We’ve been in with Munster and been training away. It was great to get a run-out with the Sevens even though it wouldn’t really be my main port of call playing as a prop. Before that when we were training on our own and just doing conditioning every day, you just had to be really tough on yourself to get through it and stick with it so it’s great to be back in training with a group of lads.”