Kelleher ready to roar after positive Lions experience

Rónan Kelleher in action for Leinster. Photo: Sportsfile

Ruaidhri O'Connor Twitter

November 01 2021 02:30 AM

Rónan Kelleher returned from South Africa with a bag full of red gear and plenty of memories. However, unlike everyone else who went on tour, he never saw a minute’s action and didn’t earn a number. He is the Lion who didn’t get to roar.

Cape Town is a long way to go to train, yet the Dubliner reflects on his summer excursion with a mixture of pride, happiness and a small amount of regret.

By the looks of things, he’s already channelling it all into performances as he aims to take the next step in his Ireland career.

In Leinster’s last game, the 23-year-old served notice of his intent with the kind of try we’ve come to expect from powerful Fijian wingers rather than Irish hookers.

Not since Keith Wood have Ireland had a No 2 capable of such wonders in the loose.

More than 30 metres separated Kelleher and the line when he received the ball at speed, while hugging the right touchline. Carrying the ball in his right hand, he swept aside his opposite number Jonny Matthews with his left, before stepping off his right foot and fending off full-back Ross Thompson and carrying winger Rufus McLean’s tackle over the line.

It was a finish Kelleher’s older brother Cian, a former Leinster winger now at Ealing Trailfinders, would be proud of and it was a well-timed reminder that he means business this autumn.

“I think it was more Keith Wood than anything else,” he says when asked who inspired him as a young player.

“When I was coming up, the players that I looked up to were Leinster and Ireland. It would have been Church (Cian Healy) and Seán O’Brien, athletic forwards that were obviously the people I looked up to.

“I kind of played a bit everywhere really and when I was U-15s, going into fourth year, I was told to move to hooker by my schools’ coach (at St Michael’s College), Brian O’Meara. I moved back to prop a few times. Yeah obviously I’m glad now, he tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to move to hooker.”

Kelleher’s emergence came just too late for the 2019 World Cup. When he took over from Joe Schmidt, Andy Farrell spoke about needing “athleticism and dynamism” from his forwards.

Leinster’s young hooker fits the bill. He came off the bench in Farrell’s first game against Scotland and has been involved in 13 of Ireland’s games since the World Cup.

However, Rob Herring’s more assured lineout throwing and capacity to do the basics well has meant that he’s started the bigger games, with Kelleher coming off the bench.

Last summer, Farrell opted to invest two starts in the younger man and Kelleher scored four tries against the United States. Selection this week will be a close-run thing.

“Absolutely. I think it’s always been a pretty competitive position with Heff (Dave Heffernan), myself, Rob and obviously Sheeno (Dan Sheehan) is coming in,” he said.

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“I’m definitely going to be putting my hand for the No 2 jersey. We’ll see how we go in training and make sure we’re ready to go for the game.”

Although Herring was the starting hooker for Ireland in last year’s Six Nations, Kelleher was the one whose performances caught the eye of Warren Gatland.

He was close to the initial selection, but lost out to Jamie George, Ken Owens and Luke Cowan-Dickie.

When cover was needed for the training camp in Jersey, Kelleher got the call. He came home and started two matches for Ireland, before linking up with the Lions again in South Africa.

“I’m pretty positive about it to be honest,” he says. “It was a great experience and great to get to know the lads and all the coaches.

“Obviously, I’m slightly disappointed not to get a bit of a run or anything.

“But I can’t be too disappointed with it. To go from nowhere, not in the squad to being brought out to train alongside them is still a really positive experience.

“Also the lads are great and I took a lot of learnings from it. Ultimately, it also drove in me that I’m not far off, I felt it was a pretty competitive bunch as well.

“That was one of the big takeaways from it. I felt confident out there.

“The feedback I got was that they had the experience over me and they had the consistency over that many years. That was all a big factor.

“They were all great in terms of helping me, giving me little nuggets of information to help me kick on in my game.”

If you were picking a squad for 2027, he’d be one of the first names on the list. First, there’s plenty of business to attend to for Ireland and taking possession of that No 2 shirt is top of Kelleher’s list.