Representing Ireland at the Paris 2024 Olympics – Niall’s story – Part 1

Back in June, we learned more about friend of The Panel, Niall Comerford, and how his career in tax took a turn into full-time 7s rugby once his training schedule increased back in 2023. We were all quietly confident then that he would be picked as one of the 7s rugby players to represent Ireland at this year’s Olympics games in Paris, but you can never be too sure. The story is fascinating and once again Niall speaks with our Marketing Manager Mal Convery to share this once in a lifetime adventure.

Since we last spoke

Niall tells us that with the Olympics just around the corner, everything was focused on preparation for Paris and squad selection. Selection D-Day was June 13th and many nervous players scrolled on their phones to select one of the available meeting slots with the team manager and IRFU performance director to be told of their fate. Over 22 players in training, 12 were selected (with 2 reserves). Elite sport is brutal.

Looking back Niall says that even though being picked to represent Ireland in the Olympics was amazing it also provided lots of mixed emotions as many of his teammates weren’t picked but had obviously trained and prepared just as much. It was a time of excitement and one of disappointment on their behalf.

Before Paris, the team took part in the Rugby Europe Sevens Championships in Hamburg, Germany at the end of June. This was used as a full weekend workout with 10 of the selected Olympic squads playing. The team breezed through these games and took home the cup by edging out France 19-14 in a rain-soaked final.

Olympic Training Camp in Tours, France

With the Olympic Rugby 7s commencing on the 24th of July two days before the official Olympics opened, the team travelled to Tours in France on July 10th to get acclimated and settled into their training camp. Tours is a beautiful city a couple of hours west of Paris.

Niall tells us this was the toughest training block that he had ever been involved in. Training four mornings a week with gym and pitch sessions, including strict diet, sleep hygiene and praying no injuries would occur. They moved their training sessions to commence later in the day as the Irish team would be playing at 4 pm and 9 pm in Paris, which they needed to get used to.

Niall felt that having the training camp in Tours set them up well heading into the Olympics. The facilities were fantastic, and it was great to be in a team environment with no distractions.

The Irish team were given a very warm welcome from the local committee in Tours, which included a welcoming ceremony from the head of Tours Rugby. The players enjoyed meeting the local people of Tours at their open training session where they played against Australia and Uruguay.

The Olympic Village

Niall tells us that the Irish 7s team arrived in Paris on July 20th and checked in to the Olympic Village. There they saw firsthand the scale of the competition as momentum was building.

The Olympic Village, located in the French Department of Seine-Saint-Denis, in the three municipalities of Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen, and L’Île-Saint-Denis, hosted athletes and members of over 200 Olympic delegations.

Primary school children back home had framed “Good Luck” cards for each of the players, this is Niall’s card, which he brought with him.

The Olympic Games

Ireland was drawn in Pool A, with New Zealand, South Africa, and Japan.

The Olympic seedings were determined by the combined points gained by teams in the World Sevens Series 2023 and SVNS 2024, along with performances in other competitions like Rugby Europe.

“Being named to start in the team to open our Olympic campaign was incredible. The nerves and excitement had built up over our preparation and it was quite surreal that the day had finally come as we ran out on to pitch to incredible support”.

On day one, the Irish team played South Africa at Stade de France, a game which saw Ireland achieving an impressive 10-5 win. Niall said “we were excited to get the Olympic Games under way for Team Ireland and delivered a performance that reflected the team’s ambitions in this tournament against a rugby 7s powerhouse South Africa. The fact that South Africa had ran out 33-14 winners when the teams both played in the pool stages of the last Tokyo Olympics denoted good progress indeed.”

The second game of the day was against Japan. The Irish team took some time to break down the opposition but completed a business-like performance with a comfortable win at 40-5 and Niall getting on the scoreboard with a well-worked team try. What an opening day!!

Ireland entered day two with a game against New Zealand, the Tokyo 2021 silver medallists. This was a tense game in which Ireland were beaten 14-12. This was a game with some regrets Niall felt. “We were disappointed as we started strongly, putting in a great performance that gave us a 12-point half-time. We didn’t take a couple of crucial chances that could have put the game to bed.”

Ireland 7s finished second in pool A which meant they face Fiji in a blockbuster Quarter-Final at 9pm in front of a 70,000-capacity packed Stade de France.

You may not know much about 7s rugby, but most people have heard of Fiji 7s, the brand, the style, and the pace. Fiji’s men to that point were unbeaten in Olympic competition, having won gold at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 – in total winning all 15 of their previous Olympic matches.

Ireland men’s Olympic medal hopes were ended by Fiji, as they suffered a devastating 19-15 quarter-final defeat having led by eight points at one stage.

“Ireland went toe-to-toe with the best nation ever to play 7s and we lost so narrowly.”

Niall says he knew the team was 2 minutes away from a famous and epic win. However, 2 minutes is an eternity on a 7s pitch – enough time for an error to creep up on players or indeed the officials and then it was game over. As his coach, James Topping, summarised afterward, “We are getting beaten by New Zealand and Fiji by a score and we are distraught… There has been a real progression to second place in the HSBC SVNS Worlds series league.”

On day three Ireland beat the USA, 17-14. It lifted their spirits, Niall says “it made us even more determined to give it our all in their last series of the Olympic games. The next game was against New Zealand, for a chance to be in the top 5. The boys played brilliantly but New Zealand were stronger on the day.”

At the end of the 7s rugby at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Niall and the Irish men’s team finished in 6th place. 6th In the World, a huge credit to the team, their trainers, coaches, and families.

Looking back and reflecting

Niall explains, “in sport, you fight for everything during the game and afterward you review both the macro and micro level and it also gives some time for reflection.”

Inspiration – “We did not get to the Olympics without being part of a great team. That means players, managers, backroom staff, and the community of family and friends that support us. Every team needs a cause and that cause for us was Team Ireland at a national level but on our Olympic ceremony uniform sleeve is the athlete’s county badge. This reflected the importance of the local community where we all started our sport, and these are the people you think about when things get tough. It motivates you to succeed.”

Exposure – For kids to dream – if you can’t see it – you can’t be it.

“The Paris 7s has uncorked something really special. Daily game attendance was stunning and I have never played in front such a noisy and boisterous crowd – full capacity for every game. The product of 7s rugby has now matured, it has a distinct fanbase and I have received so many messages from people looking forward to watching more 7s. It was a bonus to start the competition earlier than other sports and it placed our team in the national TV prime time spotlight. People were glued to it.”

“The atmosphere playing in the Stade de France was something I had never experienced before. The stadium was at capacity for all our games, and it was one of those rare times that you could hear the crowd the entire time you were on the pitch. In a word, raucous.”

Niall has read articles that the LA28 committee is now wondering if the proposed rugby 7s venue of LA Galaxy stadium with a capacity of 28,000 is going to be big enough to hold the 7s crowd. This means the stadium that hosted David Beckman during his USA soccer career may not be big enough for LA Rugby 7s.

Reflecting on the bigger picture for Ireland, Niall tells us that there has perhaps been too much focus on the quarter-final exit – without looking at the bigger picture which is the actual entry of the Ireland 7s program into a global elite performance bracket. From a standing start when Ireland relaunched the 7s program in 2015 to being disappointed in losing to the double Olympic gold medalists Fiji. Let’s all take an eternity of 2 minutes to consider the progress and Niall feels that this team stands on the shoulders of the players who started the program.

Niall says that the Olympic Federation of Ireland informed the athletes that since 1924 in the 100 years of Ireland’s participation at the Olympics only 1,000 athletes have represented Ireland. Niall says he feels honoured to be a part of Team Ireland in Paris 2024. It was a fantastic experience, and he would do it again in a heartbeat, he says that reaching 6th place is the best Ireland has ever achieved in the Olympics Rugby 7s to date.

He mentions that after their games were complete- being a part of the overall Olympic games was incredible, supporting the women’s 7s team, and attending other events such as Diving and beach volleyball in week two of Paris was brilliant.

Asked if there were any other highlights, Niall says that meeting Taoiseach Simon Harris after the final game where he was very complimentary about our efforts was appreciated by the squad. The squad had already met French President Emmanuel Macron during his walk about in the Olympic Village which was a bit surreal.

As they were in the middle of the competition, they couldn’t participate in the opening ceremony on the Seine, however, they had a smaller ceremony at the Olympic Village, and putting on the Irish Olympic uniforms was special.

What’s next?

The Olympics concluded a 12-month long season for the squad, and they will now have an extended holiday and rest period until preseason starts in September.

The 2024/25 HSBC World will kick off in December.

“We’re looking forward to the next season of SVNS World series in December already. It was great to see the massive audience for 7s during the Olympic games and we hope that we can build on that support next year. After every Olympics there may be a couple of guys that move on and we’re excited to see who steps up from the squad to fill their place.”

On a personal level, Niall will enter a Master’s program at UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School undertaking an MSc in Aviation Finance. Well, what else would you study as you travel to play in the Cathay Pacific-sponsored Hong Kong 7s and Emirates-sponsored Dubai 7s.

On behalf of The Panel, well done Niall, and well done to both the Irish men’s and the Irish women’s team, you did your country proud!

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