And so a phenomenal career comes to an end.
Paul O’Connell announced his full retirement from rugby this morning, only a few months after calling time on his glistening Ireland career.
O’Connell had signed a two-year contract with French club Toulon last summer, but never registered a single appearance for the club before hanging up his boots today.
This means O’Connell’s final game was Ireland’s 24-9 win over France in last year’s World Cup, which ended earlier than he’d have liked as he was taken off with a hamstring injury which required surgery – keeping him out of Ireland’s quarter-final with Argentina.
Everyone in Ireland knows what an irreplaceable force of rugby Paul O’Connell is – here’s his career in photos.
Young Munster
After leaving Ardscoil Rís in Limerick, Paulie began his career with Young Munster. Here’s the earliest picture of him we could find of him in action, playing against St. Mary’s in December of 2000.
A fresh-faced Munster man
Once upon a time, before he’d spent a 15-year career having seven shades of sugar knocked out of him for the cause, Paulie was a fresh-faced Munster rookie.
O’Connell made his Celtic League debut against Edinburgh, and his Heineken Cup debut came in a 28-23 win over Castres Olympique.
His all-action Ireland debut
Paulie started as he meant to go on, scoring a try on his debut – a 54-10 thrashing of Wales. Here’s the glorious moment.
He immediately established himself as a man who’d run through bricks for his country, knocking himself unconscious after colliding with a Welsh player’s elbow and having to come off.
Here he is, bandaged up and leaving the pitch.
Two Heineken cups in three years
O’Connell went on to see great club success in the first decade of the noughties. He was key in a Munster side that won two Heineken Cups in three years – both in Cardiff’s Millenium stadium, the venue where he would eventually end his career.
Ireland’s first Grand Slam in 61 years
Paul O’Connell was pivotal in Ireland’s 2009 Grand Slam win, turning in a Trojan performance in Ireland’s final game – a tense, unforgettable 17-15 win over Wales.
Chosen as Lions captain
The Limerick man has long been admired as one of rugby’s finest players at home and abroad, something which was emphasised when he chosen as the captain for the 2009 Lions tour.
Captaining Ireland to victory
Paul O’Connell captained Ireland to their two most recent Six Nations victories, 2014 and 2015. Here he is showing off the spoils of those battles.
O’Connell’s last game
It is fitting that Paul O’Connell was carried off the field in his final game, Ireland’s World Cup win over France last year, because he simply never would have left the field voluntarily.
But that’s not how we’ll remember him… This is.
#ThanksPaulie
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