Outdoors St Anne’s Park in Clontarf. I have memories from an early age of playing football on Pitch 21 with my mates, playing pitch and putt and basically getting up to mischief. When I was very young, maybe six or seven, I used to ask my granny if she wanted to go for a walk, which meant passing a sweet shop –worked every time.
Restaurants Wagamama has good, healthy food and even when the queue is long it tends to move quickly. I love Sunday brunch in the Canal Bank Café, with the chicken wings as a treat.
Bars The DJ at Bruxelles, Mark, plays the best music in Dublin, and
Kehoes on South Anne Street is great – guaranteed no pretentiousness
and what you see is what you get.
Food I really enjoy cooking, it helps me relax after a day’s training. One of my ‘ol specialties is barbecued homemade burgers from a Rachel Allen cookbook. My passion for food comes from my mum. I’m always trying to copy her minestrone soup – with little success to date.
Shopping I like Urban Outfitters. Genius on Clarendon Street is a good
spot for my sort of style – jeans and t-shirts with casual trainers.
Jeff in BTs has sorted me out with suits in the past.
Ups Dublin is compact, which means friends and family are close. Whenever I land in the airport, I get that good feeling, irrespective of whether it’s pissing rain or not!
Downs Bumper-to-bumper traffic. It can take between 4 and 40 minutes to get to training in the morning, depending on whether the schools are out or not.
Geography I love Clontarf, where I grew up. It held a clatter of firsts for me. Town at Christmas time is brilliant too, with a class atmosphere and everyone in top form. South William Street is probably my favourite place to hang out, especially on a sunny day when there’s lots of activity and a good buzz. And I’m proud to say I was involved in the building of Dakota, as a labourer during a working summer.
Sport I play a bit of golf, and during the summer I’ll try to see the Dubs at Croker as much as possible.
Heroes and Villians Mark Hughes was a hero of mine when I was growing up – a signed t-shirt he gave me is a prized possession. I have a few villains that I’ll keep to myself! I don’t have much time for the carry-on of a new British tennis player on the scene...
Hobbies Relaxing, hanging out with friends, going for dinner. I watch
box sets of The Sopranos over and over – Sil and AJ are my favourite
characters. I’m into lots of different types of music but Springsteen
probably tops the list.
Press The Dubliner of course! And when I buy the paper, it’s usually the Irish Times.
Pets I’m thinking of getting a dog with my girlfriend... but we’ll see! Not sure we can give it the time it would need just yet. We’re currently making do with a new wall-mounted fish tank.
Work I get to do one of my great passions, and that’s playing rugby. It keeps me fit and there’s nothing better than pulling on the green shirt and playing those games on the big stage.
The Magners League begins on September 5th, with Leinster’s first match against Cardiff on the 6th at 3pm. www.leinsterrugby.ie
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