Munster's Tom Ahern eyes Ireland debut amid injury setbacks
Anyone who has watched the progress of Tom Ahern's rugby career will have emitted another sigh at Friday's Ireland squad update ahead of next Saturday's Test against Georgia.
The Munster lock/flanker's efforts to make his Ireland debut have been repeatedly stymied by injury over the last two years and the latest news that the reason Connacht's Josh Murphy had joined Paul O'Connell's squad prior to Wednesday's departure for Tbilisi was to provide cover for Ahern's tight hamstring suggested a similar fate may befall the Waterford man's latest bid for Test recognition.
The 25-year-old has not been ruled out and may well earn his first international cap over the next two Saturdays with Ireland set to face Portugal in Lisbon on July 12. Ahern has been nothing if not resilient in the past and spoke of his national squad travails earlier this week when he faced the media in camp at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Abbottstown.
Named by head coach Andy Farrell as one of three uncapped training panellists alongside provincial team-mate Oli Jager and a certain Sam Prendergast ahead of the 2024 Six Nations, he was concussed against Northampton Saints in the match prior to entering camp. Then, a little more than four months after a string of strong performances for Munster had placed him in the frame for a spot in the summer touring squad to face the Springboks in South Africa, an ankle/lower leg injury against Ulster in the final round of the URC regular season scuppered his hopes of boarding the plane.
'Look, it's happened a couple of times now and obviously initially you're very disappointed but it's the nature of the game. You've got to pick yourself back up,' Ahern said.
'I've got a good support system around me and I'm going to move past that eventually and focus on the next job and try to eventually get back up here again.'
Ahern did just that and is aiming to embrace his latest opportunity in the national camp.
'I'm buzzing to be honest. I've been unlucky with a couple of injuries but that's the nature of the game to be fair.
'I'm just taking these next couple of weeks in my stride and just delighted to be up here.
'I think the overall feeling is excitement. First, I'm excited to be up here and I think likewise with everybody else. A lot of lads getting their first opportunities up here and there's a great buzz around the place.'
Ahern's candidacy for a place in the matchday 23 to face the Georgians remains strong and Munster's strong if ultimately disappointing end to the season has sent its 10-player contingent, led by tour captain Craig Casey, into camp in confident mood.
Two big wins in their final URC league encounters secured Champions Cup rugby for next season and booked a return to play-offs, where the Sharks edged them out at the quarter-final stage in a goal-kicking shootout after the tie had finished 24-24 after extra time.
'It obviously didn't end the way that we wanted it, it's a tough way to go out but we were playing good rugby towards the end of the season and a lot of the lads that are up here were playing good ball as well,' Ahern said.
'So, we can take the confidence from everybody individually playing well and so hopefully we can bring it up here now.'
With good fortune, that tight hamstring will not stand in his way, and if anyone deserved a slice of that, it is Ahern.
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