IRELAND HEAD COACH Greg McWilliams says teenage star Dannah O’Brien “has it” and “a poise that I can’t explain” ahead of her debut against Japan on Saturday.
One of the country’s most promising young players, the Tullow 18-year-old is named to start at out-half for the first Test of this historic tour in the Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka [KO 11am Irish time, live on TG4].
O’Brien completed her Leaving Certificate this summer, as did Aoife Dalton, who starts at 13, and they make up a very young and admittedly inexperienced backline, with Natasja Behan and Méabh Deely also set for their first caps.
O’Brien, the 10th player to wear the Irish 10 shirt since 2018 alone, is an exciting prospect, having also recently featured for the Carlow footballers on their run to the All-Ireland junior championship semi-final.
“Dannah O’Brien is starting 10, and as I said to her, there’s actually no pressure on her, everything from here on in is a bonus,” McWilliams said on a press conference call from the team’s base in Shizuoka today.
“We have an 18-year-old who has got a poise that I can’t explain. I’ve been very lucky to coach at St. Michael’s for a long period of time, coach the Leinster U19s for a number of years, coach Irish squads… you can just tell, people just have ‘it‘. And she has something that I think is very special. Same with Aoife Dalton, Méabh Deely is settling in lovely at full-back, and Tasj Behan has worked so hard since the Six Nations.
“We had to have a pretty honest conversation post-Six Nations as to the direction that I felt that she needed to go in. She took on the words and she came back fitter, stronger, she had a notebook in hand and she’d written out loads of notes, she looked at Hudl [video analysis app] for hours. There’s a desire there with Tasj, and she deserved this more than anybody.
“I’m just so excited to see how they cope. If they cope well, that’s a real bonus. If they don’t, it’s our job as a management team to be able to sit down with them and talk them through the performance and let them know areas that they’ll need to get better at. If you’re 18 years of age coming over here to Japan, getting an opportunity to represent your country, it’s a really exciting thing.”
Aoife Doyle, speaking moments after McWilliams, echoed his encouraging words on O’Brien, who will be working closely with her — and is no relation to fellow Tullow Ireland international Sean.
“You talk about people who have raw talent and it’s just something you can see right off the bat from her,” the winger said.
“Obviously when you come into a squad first and you’re new, you have to get used to systems, you have to get used to calls, but in terms of skill set, she didn’t have to learn anything. Her kicking from hand, her passing skills, they’re so crisp for someone so young. It’s easy to help a player like that when they have raw talent.
“You can see there is something special in her. Obviously out-half is such a massive position on the pitch. She’s well able to take her opportunity this weekend.”
McWilliams also touched on the opposition, as they gear up to face off in gruelling conditions.
“At the end of the day, every team has got strengths. It’s important that when you’re planning the tactics of a game, you need to be smart about how you’re going to use the players that you have.
“Japan do play a very quick game. I know Lesley McKenzie well, their head coach, I did a bit of work with her before, a very smart coach. And they’re quite similar to that journey that the Japanese men were on — they have very, very good skill, well able to play a good pace. Every day’s a school day, so we’ll learn a lot about ourselves on Saturday, and hopefully, the players can front up and put in a performance that we can all be proud of.”
