Once a club finds itself on a slippery slope, it can be very difficult to stop the decline. Dolphin RFC have suffered a fall in the Energia All-Ireland League, dropping from Division 2A to Division 2C with back-to-back relegations.
Their ability to steady the ship and establish consolidation will be key to whether or not they will manage to bounce back this season.
First on their Division 2C agenda, they travel to Limerick for an early Munster derby against seasoned campaigners Bruff on Saturday, before hosting Omagh Academicals in the second round of fixtures.
Dolphin are set to make trips all over the country in their quest for success, with a few journeys up north, a visit to the midlands, and also a game in the sunny south east against Enniscorthy.
Adding to the difficulty in Division 2C, Ballyclare and Monkstown will fancy their chances of challenging for promotion as they make the step up from the junior ranks, keen to follow in the footsteps of Clogher Valley and Instonians before them.
Despite the disappointment of a second successive relegation last season, Dolphin vice-captain Brian O’Mahony highlighted the positives, especially the improvements that were made after the Christmas break.
“It definitely has been a tough few years but there was something different about us last year,” he told IrishRugby.ie. “We started a bit of a rebuild. There’s a lot of young lads who made (their) debuts, and they’re older, wiser and stronger now.
“There’s a lot of lads, in particular some of the older lads, who said it was their favourite season of rugby. While it was disappointing that we went down again, there was never that sense of lads not wanting to come back to us.
“If you just look at our form pre-Christmas, in comparison to post-Christmas, that shows the improvements we made. I think we went into the Christmas break with like nine points or something like that, and we finished on 30 points.
“Last week we were even looking at the points we conceded in the first half of the season, and it was clear that we improved on that stat in the second half of the season. We could see that difference.”
Virgin Media Park is one of the most historic grounds in the All-Ireland League, and the Musgrave Park venue will need to become a fortress for the Cork side in the coming weeks and months.
Dolphin’s director of coaching, Steve Ford, and senior coach Eamonn Mills know that solid home form will lay the foundations for what they can aim for. However, O’Mahony admits they will need to fix their issues on the road if they are to have any chance of competing for promotion.
“Our away form has been shocking the last couple of years. I think it has been two-and-a-half seasons now without an away win, so we’re really targeting that first game against Bruff to try and get that monkey off our back.”
The amount of travelling required in the lower divisions of the All-Ireland League can often add to the task, with O’Mahony agreeing: “Yeah, it definitely makes things a little more difficult. Looking at last season, we had four teams from the north and we had Sligo, so that was five overnight stays.
“From a club perspective, there’s the cost of that. They’re long days, long weekends, they do make things a little more challenging. But, on the other hand, you do get some good bus trips!”
O’Mahony went to Presentation Brothers College in Cork before joining UCC when he finished school. He played with the University club for four years, where he was part of the very first UCC team to get promoted to Division 1A back in 2018.
He decided to join his family club Dolphin the following year, much to the delight of his older brother Dave and their father Ger.
Dave has become part of the furniture at the club. He has been there for 15 years, racking up almost 180 caps to become Dolphin’s second most-capped player of all-time.
He is now the forwards/lineout coach of the team, where he gets to impart some of his wisdom on his younger sibling. They both enjoy that dynamic.
“It’s interesting,” laughed Brian. “Thankfully we get on pretty well and we have similar ideas around the lineout and stuff, so it makes things easier. We sometimes have to bite our tongue, but it’s good!”
He spoke too of the joy his dad had when he joined the club back in 2019, saying: “Dad was delighted. He never quite enjoyed going to the UCC games as much! Going to the Dolphin games was the highlight of his weekend.”
Pre-season has been going well, with quite a few players raring to go and looking fresh and ready ahead of the opening weekend. Youngster Darragh Buckley impressed during his debut season, featuring in the majority of their league matches.
Centre and captain Craig O’Connell (pictured below) always makes his presence felt in midfield, and his gym scores have been off the charts this summer. Eoghan Sheehan has also been recruited from UCC, to add to their forward options.
April 2025 and the All-Ireland League play-offs will not be long coming around. Every team has their own aspirations at the start of a new rugby year, and O’Mahony’s goals, both from an individual and collective standpoint, are simple.
“I want us to be in that shop window to go back up to Division 2B, whether that’s a straight promotion or a place in the play-offs. I want us to be in contention. We need to try and get back to 2B.
“Personally, I’m rehabbing a long-term knee injury, so I’m targeting the second or third AIL game to get back playing.
“It’s been a long enough summer with the rehab. I’m doing some running now, and changing direction, so the sooner I get back on the pitch, the better,” he added.
– Dolphin RFC photos by Declan Forrest
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