SHANE MONAHAN is a priceless asset in the current Irish rugby firmament, a young wing with the potential to play senior professional rugby. Currently in the Leinster Academy his aptitude to fulfil that ambition is illustrated by an impressive underage representative career combined with the steady progress made this season.
Introduced to the game at Drogheda rugby club by his father, Peter, as a seven-year-old, he took a two-year sabbatical to play soccer, before resuming his oval ball career at Boyne – Drogheda and Delvin amalgamated to form the new club – sharing the same nursery as Shane Horgan.
He played Gaelic football at St Oliver’s Community School, Drogheda, where in fifth year he lined out for the Meath minors as a corner back, a brief campaign that ended with a first-round defeat in the Leinster championship to a Laois team that had won the All-Ireland title the previous year in 2003.
An outhalf in his formative years, he moved to centre, wearing both the number 12 and 13 jerseys, while representing Leinster and Ireland Youths and the Under-18 team, when the youths and schools combined for the first time. It was only when he played for Ireland in the Under-19 World Cup in Dubai that he moved to the right wing, a position in which he also played for Dublin University. He was a member of the Irish side that won the Under-20 Grand Slam, his influence confirmed by the winning try he scored against England at Dubarry Park.
It was only this season that the left-footed Monahan donned the number 11 jersey at the behest of Blackrock College backs’ coach Emmet Farrell, who felt it would be easier for him to develop his game there. It’s been an unqualified success as evidenced by his position as the top try scorer (nine) in the AIB League Division One: and that despite missing a couple of matches through injury.
Having completed three years of a four-year degree course in Product Design at DIT Bolton Street, he decided to take a year off to concentrate on his rugby. “I wanted to be able to concentrate on my rugby and it’s been hugely beneficial to be able to do that. I really want to be a professional player and play with Leinster. I spoke to (Leinster coach) Michael Cheika at the start of the season and he told me to work hard and try to take the opportunities that might arise.”
He also hopes to get a few more runs in the provincial A side. Farrell enthuses: “He’s a good guy, a hard worker with a simple attitude to the game. He’s very strong with the ball and one-on-one is extremely difficult to stop. He’s powerful enough to break tackles in the middle of the pitch and the new rules with regard to the backs having to stand five metres away from the back foot in a scrum guarantee he is very hard to stop from close range. He’s still learning but you couldn’t fault his application.”
Monahan’s next port of call is Stradbrook tomorrow where he will hope to help league leaders Blackrock maintain their position at the top against Ballymena. Later in the season he will hope to travel further afield, a journey that could take him to the Churchill Cup.
