{"id":435616,"date":"2026-05-06T19:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/435616\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T19:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:22:09","slug":"former-ulster-player-alan-oconnor-honoured-to-be-forwards-coach-for-ireland-women-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/435616\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Ulster player Alan O\u2019Connor \u2018honoured\u2019 to be forwards coach for Ireland women \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serendipity played a conspicuous role in guiding Alan O\u2019Connor to the position of Ireland<\/a>\u2019s forwards coach for the women\u2019s Six Nations<\/a>. It was a merging a of circumstances, several of which had no obvious links. <\/p>\n

Three years ago, the Skerries-born secondrow did some coaching at Ballymena Academy. He was in year 10 of 13 with the day job \u2013 playing and, at times, captaining Ulster<\/a>. Last summer he had a year left on his contract when he was cut loose by the province, which he summarises succinctly: \u201c[The] money just went elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s married to a Belfast woman and has a two-year-old child with another on the way, so settling up north was an easy sell for the Dubliner.<\/p>\n

His time in the Ballymena school paid dividends as he was later approached to become their head of rugby development. The IRFU invested in the schools in the province, which enabled Ballymena to offer O\u2019Connor a position. There was a further legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI coached in Ballymena three years ago now,\u201d he says. \u201cWe did well and I really enjoyed it and then got those contacts . . . the guys who I\u2019d worked with three years ago are still there and then they wanted to bring me in as well, so that worked out all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued to play rugby for Ballymena in the All Ireland League until a broken elbow put paid to the season, closely following an ankle surgery last summer. He still keeps an eye on his brother David, who plays in the secondrow for Connacht. <\/p>\n

When Ireland were looking to replace Alex Codling as forwards coach for the Six Nations, IRFU performance director David Humphreys contacted Ballymena Academy principal Stephen Black to see if he could spare O\u2019Connor for the duration of the tournament.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor met head coach Scott Bemand<\/a> at a motorway service station. Their ideas aligned and Gillian McDarby, the IRFU\u2019s head of women\u2019s performance and pathways, formalised the appointment. He didn\u2019t need any convincing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, it was always the end goal, trying to play for your country. I never got there. I was [included] in a couple of extended squads, but that was it. Never got in, never played. To be involved with Ireland in any way is an honour and I\u2019m buzzing to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old has loved every minute of the experience. He came down to Dublin in January for a two-day camp to get a feel for his new position, paying tribute to the work done by his predecessor, Codling.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a great job, so I didn\u2019t change too much. I\u2019m looking to build on what\u2019s already there in terms of the foundation that they\u2019ve put in. Fogs (Denis Fogarty) is doing a great job with the forwards as well, with all the contact stuff. And Scase (James Scaysbrook), he\u2019s doing a great job around defence; a great help.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor has seen the game from many vantage points. This has informed his preference for players taking ownership, rather than waiting to be told what to do.<\/p>\n

He does impart some of the experience he banked as a player, but says his charges are well versed and capable of coming up with a suite of in-game options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d have the lineout leaders and there\u2019s a fair few of them who have good heads for it as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey do their due diligence, they\u2019d be on top of their analysis, and then we come up with a plan: how to win ball, steal ball, score maul tries and make sure we don\u2019t concede maul tries.\u201d <\/p>\n

In their 26-7 third-round loss to France, Ireland certainly had opportunities to score, particularly in the first half. Ultimately, however, they received a painful reminder of what happens when you don\u2019t take your chances.<\/p>\n

He says the squad have reviewed the defeat and resolved to be more clinical when they face Wales at Affidea Stadium on Saturday (6.30pm), a homecoming of sorts for O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a good track record in terms of results the past while up there, so I\u2019m looking forward to it. But Wales are a dangerous side. They\u2019ve got a good set piece but we\u2019re looking forward to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ireland team to face Wales will be announced on Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n

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Find the channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serendipity played a conspicuous role in guiding Alan O\u2019Connor to the position of Ireland\u2019s forwards coach for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,1254,43,123979],"class_list":["post-435616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-womens-rugby","tag-news","tag-women-s-six-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}