IT'S been an eventful if relatively unsuccessful beginning to the season for London Irish, but we've caught up with one of their Irish players, Eoin Sheriff, to learn more about the lock and gain some insight into what's going on with the Exiles.
Q. Hi Eoin. So, you’re a Wexford native – a good GAA county – you must have played a bit growing up?
A. “I did yeah, both hurling and football. I probably preferred the hurling but I was a bit too big for it [laughs]. I liked both, but I had to give them up once the rugby became a bit more serious.”
Q. Who was your club in Wexford then?
A. “Castletown Liam Mellows, but I would have stopped at minor, that was my last year.”
Q. So, which would you prefer, Wexford to win an All-Ireland in either hurling or football, or London Irish to win the Aviva Premiership?
A. “[Laughs] I’d have to say London Irish to win the Premiership, mainly because I’m convinced Wexford are going to win an All-Ireland Senior Hurling title in the next few years – watch out for that Under-21 team. That’s going to happen, so I’ll take the Aviva Premiership please!”
Q. You’re a big sports fan in general though, aren’t you?
A. “Oh yeah, I’m a mad Liverpool fan. I haven’t had too much to cheer about lately though.”
Q. What have you made of Jurgen Klopp coming in to replace Antrim man Brendan Rodgers?
A. “I wasn’t one of those calling for Rodgers’ head, he done an unbelievable job to be fair to him. But that’s the way football is now, if you’re not getting results you get replaced, and there’s no better man to replace him than Klopp. I like him so far.”
Q. And what about the darts, looking forward to that this Christmas?
A. “Ah, I’m always getting stick for this, but I don’t care, I love the darts! It’s probably close to being my favourite sport and I can’t wait for it [the World Darts Championships] this year. I play it a lot in my spare time and every Christmas I’m glued to it on the TV, which breaks my missus’ heart. She thinks it’s the most boring thing in the world. I can’t see past MVG (Michael van Gerwen) this year, the man is a machine.”
Q. You moved to England in 2011, what do you miss most about Ireland?
A. “I miss the government [laughs]. London’s very busy – I’m from Gorey, which is not the busiest, so I like things to be a bit more laid back. I miss having all my family around and that community where everybody knows each other, which is probably the main thing I miss.”
Q. The facilities out in Hazelwood were good enough for New Zealand during their World Cup triumph earlier this year, have you ever experienced any better?
A. “[long pause] No, definitely not. I’ve never seen anything like this. I hear Leinster’s new place is pretty good, but what we have here is world class. It’s one of the main reasons I came to London Irish and it’s certainly the best in the Aviva Premiership.”
Q. London Irish play Northampton Saints on Boxing Day, does that mean you won’t get home at all this Christmas?
A. “Yeah, I won’t be getting home. Christmas is always a busy schedule for us and most sports. We’ll have no Christmas break; we’ll be training right through. I’m used to it, though, and this year with the World Cup having delayed everything so there’s no real off-weeks, so we’re more or less playing every week right through to June. We’ve all got our heads around that already though, it comes with the territory of playing sports for a living.”
Q. Next year is going to be a huge one for Irish sport with the European Championships and the Olympics, as well as the usual Six Nations, but what are you looking forward to the most?
A. “Probably the Euros to be honest. I love the Olympics and the Six Nations of course, but the Euros will have the biggest buzz around it. There was a good buzz last time we got to it and there will be again, but hopefully we’ll be able to add a few wins to the occasion this time. It’s always great when Ireland get to a major tournament in the football, I’m really looking forward to it.”
Q. Ok, what about London Irish then, how far can you go in this year’s European Challenge Cup?
A. “We’re definitely capable of winning it. It hasn’t been an ideal start for us in the league but in Europe we’ve done ok. We beat Agen, probably should have come away with a draw against Grenoble and then we beat Edinburgh. The boys got to the latter stages last year and we’ve improved our squad, so we believe we can go further this year.”
Q. You mentioned the league form there, which hasn’t been quite so good. You’re currently bottom of the table – what’s the aim for London Irish from here?
A. “I don’t think we’re looking that far ahead yet. If you look at who we’ve played, we’ve pretty much played the top six. We’ve a lot of new faces this year and things were never going to click overnight. There are things we need to work on, but we are working on them, so hopefully you’ll notice improvements over the next four or five games.”
