Ultan Dillane
FORMER Tralee Rugby player, Ultan Dillane, has been making a name for himself over Christmas and has even been interviewed for the Irish Independent website where he is full of praise for his home club.
“Tralee RFC is a brilliant club and everyone is so nice down there. Our old manager even came up to the Munster game the last day. It was great to see him there,” Ultan told Declan Rooney of the Irish Independent (click here for full interview).
He has been selected on the Connacht squad for the fourth Guinness Pro12 match in a row tonight where they take on Edinburgh at home in the Sportsgrounds.
At the moment, Dillane, is being tipped for stardom after impressing against the other three Irish provinces all in a row. He made his professional bow against Leinster in the RDS before Christmas when he was introduced late on.
A former Munster youth and Ireland U19 player, it has been a meteoric rise for a player who this time last year was nursing a broken leg.
On St Stephen’s Day, Ultan, made his first senior start against Ulster in Kingspan Stadium. For both of his opening two games he was on the losing side, but that all changed last week when Connacht achieved a rare win over Munster.
This was the men from the west’s first win against Munster since 2008 and only their second ever in 42 meetings.
Against Munster, in the 69th minute of the match the Sportsgrounds, Ultan was introduced into the fray. His first piece of action was to go up against his opposite lock, Munster legend, Paul O’Connell.
It has been a whirlwind few weeks for the young Tralee man, one in which he has laid down a marker to go far in the game.
Kick off time for tonight’s match is 7:35pm and you can see if Ultan makes an appearance as it will be shown live on TG4.
