Rory O’Loughlin harboured doubts about career before breakthrough

This week Rory O’Loughlin was recognised. “There were one or two people saying ‘well done’,” he says bashfully. It was “weird enough,” he adds, when he went to a Junior Cup match in St Michael’s school. It was only three years ago that he left.

But this has been O’Loughlin’s breakout season. Friday night lights in the RDS and a growing profile.

Last weekend exactly a year ago, he was playing Sevens rugby in Wales waiting for his break. His contemporary, Garry Ringrose, had moved ahead in the pecking order. Cian Kelleher had rowed in with Connacht. O'Loughlin was on a different path.

“It was new to me and I got to travel to Dubai and I was over in Wales playing against the Welsh and English teams,” he says.

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“But there were a good few players still in my way at that stage. There were five or six academy centres last year whereas this year, there are only three.”

Opportunity usually arrives with injury to others and the pre-season contrived to present openings with retirements, movement and Ireland’s requirements.

It was timely as O’Loughlin was having doubts about a career as a professional rugby player.

Growing confidence

“In my mind I was thinking ‘this is going to have to happen soon enough if it is to happen’,” he says.

“I was training constantly at 13 all pre-season as Garry and I were the only two 13s with the seniors. So I got good game time, which led to growing confidence and it has continued as the year has gone on.”

He started at 11 against Montpellier, didn’t score but played the whole match. Against Northampton in Dublin he came off the bench and grabbed a try and in Franklin’s Gardens before that did the same, from bench to dotting down.

He has watched Kelleher's progress. Now injured, Kelleher had been scoring tries and his move could have been O'Loughlin. Kelleher saw the Leinster log jam and decided to act.

“Cian actually lives across the road from me so he’s been one of my closest friends since I was one or two,” he says. “I never had an offer or anything like that. I’m not saying if this year hadn’t gone to plan and I got an offer from Connacht . . . it is certainly something I would have thought of.”

For now there are no such thoughts. A year in the life and all is changed.