For four players among the Limerick finalists in this Saturday's inaugural AIB League decider, there is a certain advantage in playing the final in Lansdowne Road. For them, it's actually a chance to come home, and gives their families a shorter trek on match days than another one to Limerick. All things considered then, especially the annual pecking order in Division One, if you can't beat 'em, you may as well join 'em.

That's what Killian Keane did four years ago, joining Garryowen from his home club Skerries, via UCD, after completing his B Comm and then joining Guinness Peat Aviation. By any criteria, it's been a mutually beneficial move. Keane has no doubts that he has profited from the greater intensity and pressure associated with the game in Limerick, so much so that in his own unfussy, unassuming way, he has been one of the season's success stories.

Awarded a full-time Irish squad contract at the beginning of the season, he progressed through the Munster and Irish A sides to win his first full cap when coming on as a replacement for Mark McCall in the Twickenham game, while his first campaign as Garryowen captain will include this Saturday's AIL final.

Strictly speaking, he was born in Cork but regards himself as a native of Skerries, having been reared there as the oldest of five. So how then, does a Dub end up captaining a Limerick side?

"A very good question and a question a lot of people have asked me. I suppose after Paul Hogan and Dara O'Sullivan they were running out of options really," he says, self-deprecatingly. "I had to think long and hard about it, coming from Dublin. But it's an easy job. The players have been very good and the club have been very good. They're a very organised and friendly club, and they do lighten the load."

His coach, Philip Danaher (himself a former centre and captain for club and country), reckons Keane has "grown into the role very well. The cap at Twickenham gave him a lot more confidence. You could see the difference immediately. He's a model professional, always on time and always diligent. He's a good mixer and he's good on the pitch."

Ask Keane if he feels accepted and he says: "I think so. I think so. It helps when you've played for Munster. Then you're accepted, especially when you've played for Munster in the European Cup and enjoyed wins over the likes of Harlequins. They're pretty happy with you then."

Jokingly, he describes himself as "a bum" since becoming a full-time athlete, but admits: "You couldn't but love it. The benefits are all rugby related. You've more time to concentrate on your game, and on your skills. You've more time to recover after games and from injuries.

"When you're combining it with a job, there's more ducking and diving. You miss physio sessions and eventually the body breaks down. I've played more games this year than any other year, but I've never felt fresher."

The proof is in the product. Keane has progressed nicely this season. He's quick, he has good hands and, ever since his boot helped guide HF/De La Salle Skerries into the stronger section in successive Leinster schools campaigns, has been a proven place-kicker. He's not the most strikingly creative or dangerous centre in the world just yet, and could develop more of a side-step, but there's a clear talent there and he could yet be the pick of the outside centre crop.

One of the intriguing subplots to Saturday's final is that the squad of 36 or so for the South African tour will probably be finalised some time next week and as Keane says "there could definitely be a few plane tickets left".

He'd love the chance of it, but for the moment leading Garryowen is all that matters. He felt "the world was going to collapse in around me" after the 3-3 opener with Young Munster was followed by a 2524 defeat to Dolphin but this talented, and largely underrated Garryowen team (even by themselves?) have also grown to their task.

"Being captain, you're conscious of all the work, mostly voluntary, which goes into the club. I was more nervous last Sunday, and will be again next Saturday, than I was when coming on at Twickenham. I felt like it was a stroll in the afternoon. I couldn't believe how relaxed as I was."

But this is serious pressure, "and it doesn't come any harder than beating Shannon," admits Keane, without a win in four AIL clashes with their Limerick rivals.

"We've got a chance. Shannon would have to be favourites, I admit, but we're not coming up for the good of our health, let's put it that way."