It's barely 12 months since one Irish legend bowed out gracefully from the rugby scene, but it looks like another will soon follow.
Paul O'Connell retiring?
In an interview with Sinead Kissane on TV3 , O'Connell confirmed that he will retire from rugby either after the World Cup or the following year. O'Connell's retirement will make it 3 years in a row that Ireland will have lost legends of the game, and will firmly bring a curtain down on the Golden Generation of Irish Rugby.
O'Connell says that he will think about it in the next few months, and should make an announcement soon. His current contract runs up until June 2016, but there is a sense that should O'Connell feel that his body isn't up to it, he could be finishing his glorious career once the curtain falls on Ireland's RWC journey.
No doubt there will be many calls of "One More Year" for every O'Connell appearance from here until the end of the season. Here's hoping that O'Connell gets to bow out on top like O'Driscoll, and not the way that his Munster teammate Ronan O'Gara said goodbye.
We're with Sinead Kissane on this one.
I'll be honest - I finished interview with O'Connell by asking him to please don't go!
— Sinéad Kissane (@sineadkissane) January 13, 2015
Photo Credit Stephen McCarthy and Matt Browne/Sportsfile
