‘It’s An Absolute Honour’ – Kelleher On Leading Ireland Club XV For Second Time

The floodlights at Energia Park will come on early this Friday evening, cutting through the February dusk, as the Ireland Club XV (sponsored by Energia) gathers for a fixture that carries more weight than the crest might initially suggest.

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There will be familiar faces from the Energia All-Ireland League dotted across Adam Craig’s matchday 23, players who have crossed paths countless times on pitches around the country, now aligned in green rather than split by club loyalties.

At the heart of it all will be Jack Kelleher, Cork Constitution’s 24-year-old back rower, walking out as captain of the Ireland Club XV for this much-anticipated clash with Scotland Clubs in Donnybrook, which kicks off at 6.30pm and will be live to watch on irishrugby+.

It is a role that speaks to trust, consistency, and the respect of peers. It is also one that feels earned rather than bestowed. Kelleher captained the Ireland Club international team to a big win over Portugal ‘A’ in Lisbon last year, and now gets the chance to do it again.

This time it is on home soil, with friends, family, and club-mates able to fill the stands, as the teams compete for the Dalriada Cup, which was last contested by Ireland and Scotland in 2020 and won by the Irish side.

In a squad comprised mainly of players from Division 1A, with Instonians’ David Whitten the only player from Division 1B, leadership is not in short supply. But it is Kelleher who has been handed the captaincy duties once again, a reflection of both his presence on the pitch and the journey that brought him here.

“I’m really excited, really looking forward to it,” he told IrishRugby.ie. “We have home advantage this year, obviously Scotland having to come over and travel to us, and then the advantage of having your family and your friends and team-mates being able to go up and get to the game as well.

“I think you can see the AIL growing in terms of getting the crowds through the gates again, like they were back in the golden days of the league, and like if we can get a big crowd out on Friday night, that’ll certainly give us a lift.”

Kelleher’s excitement is rooted in more than just the occasion. This is the highest expression of the domestic club game in Ireland, a stage that rewards consistency across seasons rather than moments.

For a player who has built his reputation through reliability, physicality, and a deep understanding of team dynamics, captaining the Ireland Club XV feels like a natural extension of his career to date.

That career began quietly enough. Kelleher first picked up a rugby ball at Dolphin RFC at the age of 10, entering a Cork rugby ecosystem that has proved to be a conveyor belt of talent.

Dolphin, Presentation Brothers College, UCC, and eventually Cork Constitution form a pathway that has produced countless players who understand the game as both craft and culture. It is a pathway that demands patience and resilience, traits that have defined Kelleher’s own development as a player.

Schools rugby at Pres offered early exposure to responsibility. Leadership did not come naturally, he admits, but opportunity arrived early and often, sometimes before he felt ready.

“I wouldn’t say it came natural anyway, obviously vice-captain in school was kind of thrown in there in the deep end and then kind of coming out of school, my second year in UCC I suppose got a bit of experience being vice-captain there in a very tough 1A where it didn’t go our way.

“You learned a couple of harsh lessons fairly quickly that I was able to take them when I got into Con. The older age group in Con, I was able to learn from them for a year before becoming the vice-captain of Con, so it hasn’t come easy anyway.

“It’s a lot of harsh lessons that I’ve learned on the way and I’m certainly not the finished product yet, but yeah, just trying to keep learning I suppose.”

Those harsh lessons came in competitive environments where mistakes were costly and leadership carried real consequence. UCC’s stint in Division 1A was particularly formative. Results were hard-earned, standards were unforgiving, and the margin for error was slim.

For Kelleher, it became an education not just in rugby, but in accountability, learning how to lead when circumstances are difficult rather than celebratory.

The move to Cork Constitution ahead of the 2022/23 season marked another shift. Con is a club built on standards that are not merely spoken but enforced, a place where history is honoured through relentless competitiveness rather than nostalgia.

Walking into Temple Hill for the first time as a player rather than an opponent can be sobering. He learned to walk with the legends of the club, playing a big part in their Division 1A title success in 2024, earning himself the Energia All-Ireland League Player of the Year accolade.

“I was a product of that system like Dolphin, Pres, UCC, and Con and so on. I suppose there’s so many people I could thank along the way to this point, and it is a great pathway as well,” h acknowledged.

“There’s a lot of good clubs in Cork, not just Dolphin, that are doing well and producing those players. It certainly prepares you, and I definitely was shocked when I came into Con, like the standards that the club holds itself.

“You figure out fairly quickly why they’ve been doing so well in the past, and like there’s a great group of coaches and committee behind the doors that put in an awful lot of work for us to keep improving and competing each year.”

At Con, leadership is not rushed. Young players are given space to learn before being asked to lead. Kelleher absorbed that environment, watching senior figures set the tone and tempo, understanding that captaincy is as much about listening as it is about speaking.

When his time came, it felt like a continuation rather than a leap. At 22 years of age, he was vice-captain going into an Energia All-Ireland League final in the Aviva Stadium against Terenure College.

Now, as Ireland Club XV captain, those same principles apply. The group he leads this week is temporary, but the expectations are not. Players arrive sore from league duty, rivalry still fresh in the legs, but quickly recalibrate.

“You flick a switch pretty quickly, but I think in terms of AIL come the final whistle and every weekend you know the switch is flicked anyway, you’re competing as hard as you can to get the win with your club and then afterwards you’re happy to go to a clubhouse and share a pint with your opponents.

“I’ve been lucky the last few years to get to know a lot of lads around the league from these camps and these Club international games that when you come into camp on a Sunday, you’ve become friends with the group, you know a lot of the lads and sure everyone really drives it.

“We wanted it to be a ‘club’ atmosphere. You obviously have your club game on a Saturday, but you know we’re trying to turn the the Club international into when you’re in there in that environment that you believe this is your club, this is your team, because you kind of have to have that mindset going into a game.”

That mindset is critical. The Ireland Club XV programme is not a development exercise, it is a test. The Scotland Clubs will arrive organised, physical, and eager to disrupt. Preparation time is limited, and the margins tight.

For Kelleher, this match has been circled on the calendar for months, just as it is every season he had been selected to not only represent his club, his family, but also his country.

“When the fixture is announced it’s something you mark in your calendar, that you know we’re all competitive players. I know it’s amateur, but like we’re all competitive and striving to be the best we can be.

“An individual goal I suppose would be (getting in the) 1 to 23 or the full squad firstly. You would have always earmarked this, as you want to be in the Club side because it is the highest level that you can play in this league. You want to be involved in these Club internationals.”

That competitive edge is sharpened by the environment he operates in weekly with Cork Constitution. The All-Ireland League’s top flight has rarely been more unforgiving. With five rounds of the regular season remaining, the margins are narrow and complacency punished swiftly.

That reality was underlined last weekend with a crucial 27-24 victory over defending champions Clontarf, a result that kept Cork Con firmly in the semi-final hunt. For Kelleher, balancing club ambition with national selection is not about switching priorities, but aligning them.

“In 1A anyone can beat anyone on the weekend, and it’s becoming so competitive that you know if you drop points you get punished for it because it’s such a talented league, such talented teams,” explained the former Ireland Under-20 international, who is a Qualified Financial Advisor who works with Provest in Cork.

“It’s not an easy run in for us, but you just have to take it week by week. You can only focus on the four or five points that are in front of you, I suppose if you look any further beyond that, the team you’re playing on the weekend will punish you if you take your eye off the ball.”

Adding another dimension to his season was an unexpected call from across the Irish Sea. A recent trial with Northampton Saints offered a glimpse into professional rugby, not as an aspiration carefully plotted, but as an opportunity that arrived suddenly.

“It kind of came out as blue, professional rugby wasn’t something on my radar over the last few years but it was an unbelievable experience.

“It was a great club to go over to get an experience to play a PREM Rugby Cup game in a derby against Leicester, nearly a full house in Franklin’s Gardens. Something I’ll remember forever as an experience and it certainly has helped me improve.

“Northampton just have some amazing coaches and some amazing players that you would try to take as much as you can that you can bring back to your club to finish out the season.”

That experience did not change Kelleher’s outlook so much as refine it. Exposure to elite environments sharpened his understanding of preparation, detail, and professionalism, lessons he now feeds back into his club and international duties.

As Friday approaches, the significance of captaining the Ireland Club XV at home is not lost on him. That sense of representation, of club, county, and country runs deep. Kelleher’s journey is not extraordinary in its beginnings, but it is compelling in its continuity. It speaks to what the Irish club game is all about.

When he leads the Ireland Club international side onto the field at Energia Park, he carries the imprint of learning the game at Dolphin, walking down the corridors at Presentation Brothers College, his college days in UCC, following in the footsteps of giants in Cork Con, and the collective ambition of a league that continues to evolve.

It will be a moment that reflects not only where Kelleher is now as a talismanic forward for both club and country, but the depth of the journey that brought him there, one built steadily, deliberately, and with purpose.

“We’re going to meet on Thursday, have our Captain’s run, and I know a lot of the squad are based in Dublin, but part of the squad, they’re travelling and we’d stay up (on) Thursday night, meet early on Friday.

“We’ll have our meetings on Thursday night and then kind of make our way down to Energia Park for the game on Friday. It’s an absolute honour to be honest, to be asked to lead the side for Friday.

“I’m lucky in a way that with the amalgamation of the AIL teams, it’s almost like you get the natural leaders across the board from all sides so I’m sure I won’t have a hard job on Friday night.

“Because there’s plenty of leaders and captains there from their own club sides, but then it’s a huge honour for myself. For all of us even to represent our family, our clubs, our country, and to do it on home soil where everyone can get behind us as well is brilliant,” he added.

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