Kearney: The Gaelic footballer who played for the future of the Lions

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Rob Kearney retired from rugby in 2021 as one of the most decorated players in Irish history, leaving the sport after four Six Nations titles, four Champions Cup triumphs and two tours as a British and Irish Lion in 2009 and 2013.

For many, he is best remembered for his sensational performances in Lions colours against South Africa during the 2009 series – a tour when he truly announced himself on a world stage, demonstrating a near-unrivalled ability under a high ball from full-back.

Hailing from County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, Kearney’s majestic aerial strength stemmed in no small part from the fact rugby is far from his hometown’s first love, nor the sport he played most growing up. That, rather, is Gaelic football.

“I was from a relatively sporty family but I’m from County Louth which didn’t have much rugby. It was a real Gaelic football county,” Kearney tells Sky Sports.

“I was lucky the two seasons didn’t collide or clash too much and I could play loads of Gaelic football during the summer and rugby in the winter.

“Rugby was a real big love and while I always missed Gaelic football a huge amount, I’m happy with the route I chose.”

Bizarrely a seventh cousin of former US President Joe Biden, Kearney looks back on the 2009 Lions tour and reveals the third Test against the Springboks to avoid a series whitewash after two extremely tight opening defeats took on far more than a game of rugby.

It was a day when the very future of the touring side’s existence was in question, and the players felt it.

“There was an awful lot of pressure on the squad because all of a sudden it wasn’t just about the class of 2009,” Kearney says.

“We felt we had a real responsibility for the future of the Lions jersey and what that means to people. There was a huge amount of chat about that during the week.

“Ian McGeechan [2009 head coach], obviously a Lions legend for so many years, wasn’t shy about highlighting that and putting a real responsibility on us to perform and win.

“There were genuine question marks about the future of the Lions and that was extra difficult for us as players because there was a lot more than just 80 minutes of rugby on the line.

“The legacy and history of the Lions, what they stand for, what we wanted future generations to think of the Lions was all on the line that day.”

Such a narrative had festered and then exploded into consciousness due to a run of Lions series defeats which was guaranteed to be extended when Morne Steyn landed a 54-metre penalty at altitude in Pretoria with the final kick of the second Test for a 28-25 South Africa victory.

The 2005 tour to New Zealand and 3-0 series defeat under Clive Woodward had proven a disaster, while the 2001 tour to Australia under Graham Henry had seen the Lions throw away the chance for victory in an eventual 2-1 series loss.

Defeat in 2009 meant the Lions would be without a series victory since 1997 for 16 years at the very least until 2013 – a tour in Australia they would go on to win 2-1.

For plenty, successive 3-0 series whitewashes would have been unpalatable and potentially worthy of ending the four-nations-as-one touring tradition.

“Thankfully we put in a really good performance and won resoundingly well,” Kearney says, as the Lions played angrily to secure a 28-9 victory.

‘I was in fantasy land: From expecting to miss out to Test Lion tryscorer’

Earlier in 2009, Kearney was part of a Six Nations Grand Slam – the first for Ireland since 1948 – but vividly remembers watching the Lions squad announcement alone, unusually suffering from a case of mumps.

“I remember exactly where I was as I was quite sick at the time, actually,” he says. “I hadn’t played for Leinster in a few months and was at home on my own.

“I was unbelievably delighted but I had mumps, which was quite serious and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to go on tour. From where I was that day to how the tour finished for me was very surprising.”

It’s easy to forget such would be Kearney’s eventual impact, but Wales’ Lee Byrne had established himself as the first-choice Lions full-back, with the former having struggled with a niggly injury.

Byrne suffered a foot injury 37 minutes into the opening Test in Durban, and then a serious thumb fracture in training to rule him out entirely thereafter.

Kearney excelled off the bench and started in a second Test in which he slid over for a try in just the seventh minute.

“I wasn’t disappointed as I knew Lee Byrne was always in the driving seat to start the first Test. I picked up a dead leg against Western Province that left me out for a couple of weeks, so to be honest I was absolutely delighted to be in the squad.

“I wasn’t expecting to be because as an out-and-out full-back, it’s unusual to pick up one of those bench positions.

“The second Test was phenomenal and genuinely a dream come true. I thought I was living in a fantasy land because eight days before I wasn’t even expecting to get in the squad. And here I was starting, scoring the opening try.

“That whole game was a bit of a fantasy as well, because there are days in your career where you’re just perfectly and fully in your flow. That everything you do seems to work. I was very lucky I had one of those days on the biggest stage for the Lions.”

For all that his performances were spectacularly good in South Africa that summer, the opening two Tests had, nonetheless, brought two Lions defeats.

For the then 23-year-old, it proved massively conflicting.

“It really was. I did a Sky Sports interview with Miles Harrison afterwards and he was talking all about my performance, but the only thing I could think was we’d lost the series and let it slip.

“I’ve been in some disappointed dressing rooms through the years, but I will always remember that one as being genuinely absolutely gutted.

“It just shows you sport is the tightest and finest of margins, and that’s why we love the game so much. It was really unfortunate because a decider would have been very special.

“If I look at the lowest periods of my career, the second Test in 2009 is up there.”

‘Injury before 2013 tour was so stressful – it didn’t have the same feeling of achievement’

Four years later Kearney was off the back of a 2012 in which he was named European Player of the Year, but a hamstring injury just prior to his final club match of the season suddenly left his 2013 Lions tour chances in real doubt.

Having travelled to Hong Kong with the Lions squad, Kearney was left waiting in a hospital room following a scan that would determine whether he could continue on to Australia or not – a moment of immense anxiety.

“It was very stressful. Leinster had a Challenge Cup final the day before we departed and my hamstring just didn’t feel right in the warm-up, so I had to pull out.

“We travelled to Hong Kong to play the Barbarians there and I was so worried. If the scan didn’t come back well I would have been sent back to Dublin.

“Thankfully the medical staff were happy it wasn’t going to be too long-term and I got back on the pitch two weeks later.

“By that point Leigh Halfpenny was playing really well, his goal-kicking was phenomenal and he put himself in that front-runner position to claim the 15 jersey.”

Indeed, the stark reality of elite sport means experiencing the same success and circumstances at the top are a rare occurrence.

Kearney had to wait until the fifth tour game to play in 2013 due to his hamstring, by which point there were only two fixtures to go before the first Test.

In the end, Halfpenny played so well that he was named Player of the Series in Australia while Kearney missed out on all three Tests – something made all the more testing, he says, due to his memories of 2009.

“It was difficult because I got to experience the unbelievable highs of playing in the Tests in 2009. When you get a flavour and feeling of that, it’s the only thing you want to do again.

“I was disappointed because Tommy Bowe had an injury and there was chat internally and externally Halfpenny might move to one of the wings and I’d come in at 15. There was a small bit of hope.

“Leigh had done unbelievably well so I knew the writing was on the wall. From then on, the only way I was going to get in was an injury to him.

“I didn’t play in any of the Test matches, and because I did in 2009, 2013 didn’t have the same feeling of achievement for me.

“Even though there’s huge involvement for all players and the whole squad are part of a series win, it’s not the same if you’re not in the Test team.”

‘Not getting 100 Ireland caps my biggest low – I desperately wanted it’

A source of outstanding consistency for Ireland under Joe Schmidt, Kearney sits just outside the top 10 for most caps in Irish history.

In 2018 he became the first player from his nation to start in all 10 Tests of two Grand Slam campaigns – a record he still holds alone.

Looking back, though, it’s caps the 38-year-old somewhat surprisingly names as the greatest regret of his career.

“My biggest low point would be not getting 100 caps for my country. It was always something I really desperately wanted. It’s an elite club.

“I finished on 95 Irish caps – 98 if you include three Lions ones – but I missed 30 games with injury and 15 or so were little soft-tissue calf or hamstring injuries that could easily have gone my way.

“I always tell myself it’s only a number, but it was a number I desperately wanted to get to.”

In terms of highlights, Kearney’s mind turns to the Lions.

“Becoming a Lion ranks at the very top.

“Playing for your country in a World Cup is incredible and something every kid who’s into sport dreams of. But the Lions is so special it’s ranked even a little higher than that.

“There’s a huge amount of prestige and history attached to that crest. It’s definitely the most special thing I’ve achieved from a rugby perspective.”

“Without fans there’d be no competition and new research by LetsHost shows local businesses with local domain names are key when fans are researching where to go and how to get there” – Kearney

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