THEY MAY HAVE missed out on a significant prize in London just under a fortnight ago, but Dan Sheehan has acknowledged the Leinster squad are grateful to still be in a position to challenge for silverware in the closing weeks of their 2023/24 campaign.

Having previously featured in their agonising defeats to La Rochelle in 2022 and 2023 – the first as a replacement and the second as a starter – Ireland international hooker Sheehan tasted further final heartbreak in the Champions Cup at the hands of Toulouse at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25 May.

Leo Cullen’s men have also suffered back-to-back semi-final reversals in the United Rugby Championship over the past two seasons, but with a last-eight encounter against Ulster in the same competition on the agenda at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday, Sheehan and his provincial colleagues are aiming for a positive ending to the current term.

“We’ve talked about it as a squad. We’re lucky enough to have the chance that there is still something to play for. Hopefully with three weeks of success, but we need to make sure we take it one week at a time,” Sheehan remarked at a Leinster media briefing on Monday.

“Make sure we still enjoy coming in every day and being around the lads. We’re grateful for the group we do have and it would be a shame not to enjoy the next few weeks with them.”

Whereas the majority of those who started the Champions Cup final were afforded a rest, Sheehan was one of just three players from the first 15 that faced Toulouse – Jamie Osborne and Ryan Baird being the others – to see game time in Leinster’s convincing bonus point triumph over Connacht at the RDS last Friday.

Replacing Ronan Kelleher on 53 minutes, Sheehan bagged the home team’s fourth try of the game to bring his scoring tally for the season up to eight. Instead of waiting until this weekend to return from the crushing disappointment of the Toulouse game, the 25-year-old was more than happy to do so in Ballsbridge.

“I really enjoyed the game against Connacht. Got a bit of frustration out. Gave me something to focus on straight away, which was nice. I think it’s good. We took a lot of learnings from last week [the Toulouse game].

“I think it would have been easy to brush over that and forget about that. We did a good debrief on it the last week, turned our focus on to Connacht and sort of just stripped it back to basics. Now looking towards this week, Ulster are the team to beat.”

While Leinster are favourites to overcome their interprovincial rivals at Irish Rugby HQ – and set up a semi-final showdown with the winners of the Saturday afternoon clash between The Bulls and Benetton at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria – Ulster certainly aren’t coming up to Dublin just to make up the numbers.

With the now-departed Dan McFarland still at the helm, they defeated Leinster at the RDS on New Year’s Day. Ulster had a new head coach in the shape of Richie Murphy when the sides met again in the URC at Kingspan Stadium the week before the Champions Cup final, but a late penalty from John Cooney ensured the Wicklow native picked off the scalp of his former employers.

Murphy going up against his fellow county man Leo Cullen is one interesting element to Saturday’s game and the front-row battle is also set to provide considerable intrigue.

Since making his senior international debut against Japan in November 2021, Sheehan has found himself competing for the number two jersey along with his Leinster colleague Kelleher and Ulster’s Rob Herring. The latter surpassed Andrew Trimble and Darren Cave earlier this season to become the most-capped player in the northern province’s history and with the highly-rated Tom Stewart also vying for a starting berth, Sheehan is expecting to be put to the pin of his collar this weekend.

“I met Rob the first time I went into camp. He has been hugely helpful for me in camp. He gives everything, he gives his time, his advice. He is a brilliant set-piece operator. Over the years in the line-out and the scrum, I’ve learned a lot from him,” Sheehan added.

“Obviously he is in good form at the moment, himself and Tom Stewart. That’s a good pair there so that will be an interesting battle at the weekend.”

Daire Walsh