O’Leary broke his ankle in Munster’s Magners League tie with the Scarlets last April and the injury ruled him out of action for five months and forced him to miss the Lions tour to South Africa.
However, the 25-year-old scrum-half has made a terrific comeback from the injury and is eagerly looking forward to being involved in Munster’s crunch Magners League and Heineken Cup fixtures over the coming weeks.
Munster’s hectic schedule begins with a big Magners League date with Leinster at the RDS in Dublin this Saturday evening (6.30pm).
Irish scrum-half Tomas O’Leary says both provinces, currently lying second and third in the Magners League and only separated on scoring difference, will be fiercely determined to record a victory ahead of the commencement of the Heineken Cup a week later.
Tomas O’Leary said: “The Leinster match is definitely a big game for us.
“It is a big derby. Saturday’s game will be no different.
“Obviously both sides will want to win it. I am just hoping to make it into the 22 and the starting XV for the game. I am looking forward to it.
“We have made a decent enough start, but there is plenty to work on in terms of performance. We will try and kick on from here.”
O’Leary said he is delighted to be back in the Munster dressing room again after putting his injury heartache behind him.
“It is great to be back in that dressing room. We have a big few weeks ahead, so it is brilliant to be back involved in the squad and in contention to play,” Tomas O’Leary said.
“The injury isn’t in the back of my mind any more.
“For the first few weeks I was getting into contact I was wary of it. After I got a good few hits in training, started full training with the lads and got more confident.
“I have been in full training for the bones of a month or a month and a half. So I am pretty confident with it now.”
The eight-times capped Irish international revealed that his team-mates had been more than happy to let first choice goal-kicker Ronan O’Gara know that O’Leary had kicked more points than him in Sunday evening’s Magners League win over the Dragons at Musgrave Park.
“Goal-kicking is not something I have been practicing. There wasn’t much pressure on for those conversions, so it was grand,” O’Leary said.
“One of the lads inside was saying that I had scored more points this season than Ronan (O’Gara), so I didn’t need to say anything!
“The key for us was that, after a slow first half, we picked up the pace in the second half. A lot of fellows seemed to be struggling in the first half, including myself. I was blowing a bit. Hopefully, I will get a few matches under my belt and my match fitness will come back.”
Meanwhile, on the local club rugby front, this weekend marks the start of the AIB All-Ireland League.
The highlight of an action-packed programme is the clash of cty rivals Garryowen and Shannon under the Dooradoyle floodlights on Friday night (7.30pm).
In the same division UL Bohemian will be hoping to bounce back from their Limerick Charity Cup final defeat to Young Munster when they host Blackrock College at Thomond Park on Saturday (2.30pm).
In Division 1B in-form Young Munsters open their programme of regular season games with a home tie against Buccaneers at Clifford Park on Saturday (2.30pm).
The three Limerick sides competing in Division 2 will approach their opening series of AIL games in confident mood following a hat-trick of wins in the AIB Cup at the weekend.
Thomond host Greystones at Liam Fitzgerald Park while Old Crescent face an away game against Belfast Harlequins and Bruff travel to Cork to take on Highfield at Woodleigh Park. All games begin at 2.30pm.
Colm Kinsella
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