There’s a deep respect for The Notorious within the Irish dressing room.
Outgoing Irish rugby team manager Mick Kearney has revealed that Conor McGregor is the Irish sportsman the Irish players would most like to deliver a motivational speech.
Today’s clash with Australia is Kearney’s last as team manager after four years in the role, with former Irish international out-half Paul Dean ready to succeed him going forward.
One of Kearney’s tasks as team manager was organising speakers, from the sporting world and beyond, to address the Irish players and management to relay their experiences of success and setbacks in their various fields.
Usain Bolt and Rory McIlroy are amongst those Kearney managed to organise to speak to the camp in the past, but in an interview with the Daily Mail, he revealed that the present group would love to hear from one man in particular.
“I organised Usain Bolt, Rory McIlroy, Barry McGuigan, Niall Quinn, Sonia O’Sullivan, lots of good sportspeople, to talk to the lads but the one person they really want to get in now is Conor McGregor,” Kearney said.
“They felt I might be able to pull that off before I left. I’ve a connection through someone I know to his coach John Kavanagh.
“If I can assist when I’m gone I will do that, but as I said to Paul I have to leave somebody for him to get because we have got a lot of the good ones in.”
“There’s a lot of admiration (for McGregor), Kearney added.
“When it comes to the talk, at the end of the day Conor is trying to sell tickets and pay-per-views but beneath it all he’s a seriously good athlete.
“Our guys admire seriously good athletes from around the world and they would like to find out how he mentally prepares for his fights.”
McGregor, of course, recorded a promotional message to the Irish soccer team ahead of their opening clash with Sweden in Euro 2016, so doing something similar for the rugby team isn’t a completely far-fetched notion.
Here is that rallying cry from @thenotoriousMMA to Ireland ahead of the start of #euro2016. We are here to take overhttps://t.co/wvOs5K8O4s
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 13, 2016
McGregor to deliver a speech to the Irish team before a potentially Championship-defining Six Nations clash with England on March 18 perhaps?
No pressure, Paul Dean.
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