St. Mary’s College will end their six-year absence from Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division 1A when they host Clontarf at Templeville Road on Saturday (kick-off 2.30pm).
Their return to the top flight was secured as far back as last February, where they wrapped up the Division 1B title with four matches of the regular season to spare.
Mark McHugh’s charges finished as runaway winners on 85 points, winning 17 out of their 18 games with a 26-point gap back to their closest challengers, Old Wesley. They never really took their foot off the gas in their pursuit of promotion.
It was a collective squad effort with a few standout individuals. Ronan Watters proved to be ‘captain fantastic’, as his leadership qualities really came to the fore in key moments of the campaign.
Talismanic out-half Conor Dean has become one of the stars of the All-Ireland League, earning the Division 1B Player of the Year award for 2023/24, while Mick O’Gara finished top of the scoring charts with 161 points.
Speaking at the launch of the new Energia All-Ireland League season at Energia Park, goal-kicking centre O’Gara reflected on the special year in the blue of St. Mary’s.
“Finishing top points scorer kind of topped of the season but you must give credit to the lads,” he told IrishRugby.ie. “We finished top of the table by a mile last year, so when you are scoring so many tries, it makes it easier for me to finish as the top points scorer for the team.
“I was taking the kicks and you’re scoring, on average, four or five tries a game. In terms of me personally, I would have to say it’s the best season I’ve ever had in rugby.
“I’d actually never won a medal in rugby before. From the age of 13 to 23, I’d never won anything in rugby, so winning 1B last season was massive for me.”
The close-knit bond of the St. Mary’s squad was clear to see both on and off the field last season. Their togetherness laid the foundations for what they went on to accomplish.
A club pre-season tour to Valencia was crucial in establishing those early connections, so much so that they repeated that process this time around by heading to Marbella before the start of their Division 1A adventure.
Explaining how those rugby trips helped everything gel together, O’Gara said: “We were back on the pitch in July and then we went on a pre-season tour to Marbella in August. There was a lot of bonding done!
“We had three Leinster League games in 10 days before we headed to Marbella, so it was nice to get a bit of a break. Our trip to Valencia before the start of the last season was a great success, and it was a goal of the club’s to get a repeat of that trip.
“We bought 35 lads to Marbella, which created great bonding. Lads that didn’t really know each other before got that time to get to know each other well. I think we’re set up now to hit the ground running.”
Naturally, Division 1A is a step up from the league’s second tier. Mary’s will come up against better opposition, and the physicality stakes will demand they go up another level, fully testing the strength and depth of their playing group.
Conor Hayes was one of the signings of the season last time out. The Limerick native scored 10 tries in his first All-Ireland League season in blue. They have brought in some new faces again this year.
Former Munster centre Dan Goggin, who scored 10 tries in 81 appearances for his province, joins from Young Munster.
Mary’s have gained an experienced back rower in Greg Jones, who makes the move from Banbridge, having made 45 appearances for Ulster since making his debut in 2017. They have also brought in former Ireland underage hooker Howard Noonan from Old Wesley.
O’Gara knows these new additions were a necessity ahead of this new challenge, admitting: “We always knew that if we got promoted, we were going to need to sign another couple of players because you can’t go into 1A without depth.
“If you get one or two injuries, things can start to slide very quickly. Once we secured that promotion, I think we knew we had to sign some new players in key positions and we’ve done that with the players we’ve brought in.
“We needed to do that to improve our depth, and outside of that, we needed to lift our training standards, lift our gym work, and make training more competitive with those new faces as we all push for a spot in that starting team.”
Mary’s head coach McHugh brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. The former Mary’s, Leinster and Ireland full-back/out-half has enjoyed success in the league as both a player and a coach.
In the 1999/00 season, Mary’s became the first club outside of Munster to win the All-Ireland League crown, a team that McHugh was the starting out-half for. They were coached by New Zealander Brent Pope, and captained by Trevor Brennan.
In recent years McHugh coached Lansdowne in Division 1A, where he guided them to Energia Bateman Cup glory. He will be aiming for his current side to make Templeville Road a very difficult place for other teams to come and get a victory.
“It’s all about that first game against Clontarf,” insisted O’Gara. “We need to start well, putting our best foot forward, we need to be a team that’s hard to beat.
“We need to put that marker down from the first week, showing that we’re a team that wants to compete in this league.
“You can only make a place a fortress by becoming unbeatable there. It all starts with that first game, putting that best foot forward and winning that first game.”
Progression and a desire to consistently get better was a key theme for Mary’s last season. They never wanted to stand still no matter how far ahead they were. They will look to adopt the same attitude to life in the top flight.
“We’re an exciting attacking team and nobody has the attitude of going up just to stay up. Every single person in the squad is looking to go up to 1A and compete, push for a semi-final and see what happens then.
“We’re a progressive rugby club and nobody is going up just to survive. We’re aiming to compete right at the top of the league.”
Hailing from Bray in County Wicklow, O’Gara represented both Leinster and Ireland at age-grade level, where he was one of the star players in the Presentation College Bray team that included current Connacht scrum half Ben Murphy.
He spoke about the influence that Ben’s dad Richie, who is now head coach of the Ulster Men’s senior squad, had during his early days.
“Richie was a massive influence. He went to Pres, both his sons, Ben and Jack, were in Pres too. Richie gave his time for nothing.
“When I was playing Junior Cup rugby, Ben wasn’t on the team at the time, but Richie was at two or three sessions a week, and although he had a full-time job with the Irish team (as skills and kicking coach), he was still giving up his time for free to help us.
“Richie had a massive influence on everyone that played rugby in the school. His help in terms of my kicking, passing, and everything else really helped me personally.”
The talented 23-year-old back has not been short of people to call on for quality advice, none more so than his first cousin, Jonathan Sexton, a proud Mary’s clubman, and Ireland’s record points scorer and 2023 Grand Slam-winning captain.
“Johnny was always a great help to me, even just by looking at how he prepared himself every week. I wouldn’t have seen him too often, but just seeing how he conducted himself.
“He was nearly 40 at last year’s World Cup in France, and he was one of the best players there. Being in your family proves to you that it is possible.
“He was 23, 24 when he won his first Heineken Cup. When you’re seeing that, it shows you the level in which you want to play. Having him in the family was an unbelievable asset.
“From being able to bounce ideas off him, learn from him or take feedback from him, watching the great professional that he was,” he added.
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