After everything Nenagh experienced last season, it is difficult to imagine a much better way for them to have started life back in Division 1B of the Energia All-Ireland League. For O’Flaherty, there is added responsibility attached to this campaign.
The 31 year old Burgess native, who works as an accountant with an aviation leasing firm in Shannon, has taken over the captaincy for the 2026/27 season. In doing so, he took over the role from his older brother Kevin.
It is actually O’Flaherty’s second spell with the armband, having previously captained the side during the strange and uncertain pandemic seasons. This time feels different.
He is older, considerably more experienced and has more than 150 senior appearances for Nenagh behind him. The number eight has spent the bones of a decade as a consistent presence in the senior team and now has the responsibility of leading a group attempting to use the lessons of a difficult season in Division 1A to drive themselves forward.
So far, the response has been impressive. Nenagh began with a 22-12 victory away to Highfield at Woodleigh Park before defeating Naas 31-21 on home soil last weekend.
“Definitely we're pretty happy the way it's gone so far” O’Flaherty said.
“Especially I suppose even the start, just going to Highfield and winning away from home in Cork. Highfield is probably one of the toughest places to go really.
We're definitely happy, especially winning that first game was definitely a big one after last year, just to get the monkey off the back nearly straight away, and get a win down there was massive”
That phrase carries particular significance.
Before travelling to Cork, Nenagh's previous Energia All-Ireland League victory had come on April 26th, 2025.
That was a day nobody connected with the club is likely to forget.
Having already won the Munster Senior Cup during an extraordinary campaign, Nenagh faced UCC in a dramatic promotion play-off and emerged 36-33 winners after Josh Rowland crossed for a dramatic late try.
It secured promotion to Division 1A and represented another remarkable step for a club that had only recently climbed out of Division 2A. What followed could scarcely have contrasted more sharply.
Nenagh lost all 18 league matches in their maiden Division 1A campaign.
When the celebrations erupted following that victory against UCC, nobody could have imagined that Nenagh's next league win would not arrive until September 26th, 2026.
Yet O’Flaherty does not look back on the intervening period with regret.
Far from it.
“We've had an unbelievable couple of years and the past three, four, five years are probably something we could never have dreamt of as a club” he said.
“That year we won the Senior Cup and then the final couple of minutes against UCC, it's still really hard to believe what happened and how the game kind of came back.
It was a season of dreams really to go up to 1A and especially after just coming up from 2A at the time.”
The following campaign provided an entirely different education.
Nenagh suddenly found themselves competing against the leading clubs and players in the country every weekend.
Results were painful, but the experience was invaluable.
“Last season in 1A was obviously a tough challenge but as a club it was an unbelievable experience to play against some of the clubs we were playing against and the players we were playing against, and going to some of these clubs that probably we were going to for the first time.
I know it was tough, we lost every game unfortunately, but there was still a great buzz around even the players. Everyone was still looking forward to coming to training and there was still great excitement around the place.”
That togetherness mattered.
Eighteen defeats can fracture a squad if confidence disappears and frustrations grow. Nenagh refused to allow that to happen.
Their run to the Munster Junior Cup final later in the season provided further evidence that there remained plenty of fight in the club despite the difficulties of their Senior league campaign.
For a young squad in particular, O’Flaherty believes those experiences could prove hugely important.
“We have a pretty young group of players at the minute, so it's great experience. I think we had five or six U20s potentially last year that played 1A rugby. That's invaluable experience to get.
They're so young and I suppose I'm on the other side of things age-wise, but still for myself to say I played 1A rugby with Nenagh Ormond is something I never ever thought would have happened.”
Now Nenagh are putting the past behind for another campaign in Division 1B. A new chapter after the last one in 1B resulted in promotion.
The early evidence is encouraging. At Highfield, O’Flaherty felt his side spent much of the opening half under pressure. And while they could have suffered defeat like the previous campaign, instead they survived, adjusted and found another gear after the interval to secure a long awaited win.
“We were probably under huge pressure in the first half down there, we defended well and probably realistically they probably missed a few opportunities to score in the first half and then luckily enough we clicked into gear a little bit in the second half which was great, just great to get a win down there to be honest.”
Returning to New Ormond Park against Naas brought a different test.
Nenagh built a position of strength before their visitors mounted a second half comeback, forcing the home side to dig deep before eventually securing a 31-21 bonus-point victory.
“Naas were very good to be fair, they pushed us all the way and they made a great comeback there in the second half. We were clinging on nearly for a finish, but that's great, especially to get five points at home now. It's huge.”
The two victories have provided an ideal start to O’Flaherty’s latest stint as captain.
For someone who has been around the senior side for more than a decade, the significance of representing the club in that role is not lost on him.
“I suppose it's the greatest honour you can get within the club really while you're playing” he said.
“I'm actually buzzing and honoured that the lads gave it to me. Obviously I've done it before, I had a bit of experience, but it's always nice to get it from the coaching group and obviously the players.
It's just representing the guys in the club as best we can throughout the year with everything we do. It's a really good club at the minute. There's so many people in the background in the club that do so much work, and I'm obviously lucky enough to head up the squad with the captaincy role. Just trying to represent the guys in the club and the people of the club as best I can.”
There is another layer to the captaincy this time. O’Flaherty has inherited it from his brother Kevin, who has already passed the 200 appearance milestone for Nenagh.
John earned his 150th cap against St Mary’s College back in January, and has been slowly earning more caps ever since.
The brothers have been central figures during a transformative period for the club, and 200 is now a number the younger O’Flaherty admits he would like to chase.
“It's probably the bones of ten years I'd say I'm playing” he explained.
“I think I made my debut, it was actually Derek Corcoran, who's head coach now, was coach under Ivan Muldoon at the time. I think it was up in Belfast Harlequins I made my debut, I'd say ten or eleven years ago. I've been playing ever since.”
Availability has been one of his greatest strengths.
“I've probably been fortunate enough, touch wood again, injury-wise I haven't missed a whole pile of games. Made 150 caps earlier this year and looking to keep going to get as many as I can until the body eventually gives way.”
“The brother has 200 so I'll aim for that mark at the minute and hopefully we can get to 200 if the body stays going.” he added with a laugh.
At 31, there is certainly no suggestion O’Flaherty is contemplating the finish line yet.
He only has to look towards his current head coach for inspiration.
“Even looking at Derek last year, he was still playing in his 40s. It's just why you love it so much. Stay playing as much as I can and the love is definitely there at the minute, so I'll be looking to play as long as I possibly can, as long as I'm still offering something to the team.”
There is plenty still to offer.
His distinctive white and red scrum cap has become a familiar sight in the Nenagh back row and his experience will be particularly valuable in a Division 1B campaign which O’Flaherty expects to be fiercely competitive, and for Nenagh it has created an appetite to return to the top flight again.
“Some of the games, obviously results didn't go great at times, but I felt like we were competitive. We probably just couldn't back it up for the full 80 minutes, where we were competitive for 40 minutes or 60 minutes sometimes and dropped off.
Definitely looking back on that experience now hopefully it'll stand to us this year now as the season goes on because 1B is just as competitive as 1A, I don't think there's gonna be anything between any teams and I think everyone's gonna be beating each other every week.
I think come April, I don't think there'll be anyone too far away from each other. Hopefully we can leverage off a bit of the experience we had last year and it'll stand to us, definitely building. A lot of young guys have that experience and hopefully we can be in the mix come the end of the season.”
Before anyone begins thinking about April, however, there is another sizable challenge waiting this weekend.
Instonians travel to New Ormond Park for the first league meeting between the clubs in almost 13 years.
Nenagh won 20-8 when they last faced each other in November 2013, although O’Flaherty was not involved.
This weekend will therefore provide his first taste of the Belfast side, and for many within the current group. He has watched their rapid rise up through the Divisions in recent seasons with admiration.
“I don't think I was there that day (Instonians at home in 2013), but I definitely know some of the guys that were playing that day and even just mentioned playing Instonians over the previous couple years before that as well and talked very highly of them.
They went down to the junior ranks but then I think they had four or five promotions in a row and then they were very unlucky to miss out last year, they could have been up in 1A which would have been just incredible to be honest.
It's serious how they've come through the ranks and they get promoted every year, and to be honest ourselves if we could just get a win this weekend we'd be buzzing it would be a great end to the block. It's obviously a block of three games, you target just one game at a time.
But if we could go three from three it would be huge, just be a great momentum around the place if we could get that win, so it's a huge game now we're definitely bigging it up as a big game now.”
Their recent trajectory ensures Nenagh will attach little significance to whatever the early league table might suggest.
Instonians surged through the divisions following their spell in Junior rugby and came agonisingly close to reaching Division 1A last season.
O’Flaherty expects them to be in the promotion conversation again, despite having lost their opening two games.
“Instonians now definitely it's going to be a tough game now again this week, we probably expect them to be contenders come the end of the year they'll definitely be up there, so if we could go three from three to start the year it would be unbelievable now to be honest, a good vibe in camp at the minute so we're looking looking forward to the game ahead now again at the weekend.”
Three wins would provide more than just another positive result.
For all Nenagh have experienced over the past few seasons, there is a sense that this group is still evolving.
They have gone from Division 2A to winning the Munster Senior Cup, from the drama of a promotion play-off to testing themselves in Division 1A.
They experienced an entire league season without victory and somehow emerged from it still together and still hungry to return. Now they are back in Division 1B with two victories from two and another major examination approaching.
At the centre of it is a captain who has been around for virtually the entire journey. O’Flaherty has more than 150 appearances behind him, a brother beyond 200 to chase and, if the body allows, plenty of rugby still ahead.
Balancing the books might occupy his weekdays in Shannon. Balancing the responsibility of leading Nenagh while continuing to contribute from the base of the scrum will occupy his weekends.
So far, the numbers on both sides of the ledger look pretty good. A third victory on Saturday would make them look better again.
O’Flaherty knows how valuable points accumulated early in a season can become once winter arrives and injuries begin to mount.
“I know it's early in the year yet but like if you can get the wins in early in the year it really does account as the season goes on, because bodies get sore injuries pick up so we already have a few knocks and bruises at the minute so it's just picking up wins early.
And the earlier you can get them on the board and get points on the board it accounts for a lot come March/April time next year, no definitely just looking to pick up as much points as we can. If we get a win Saturday we'd definitely be very very happy.”