RUGBY
Leinster produced the perfect response to their Champions Cup final heartbreak at the RDS on Saturday afternoon
By Daire Walsh
FACING arch rivals Munster in the Guinness PRO14 semi-final for the second year in succession, they delivered an impressive second half display to eventually prevail on a scoreline of 24-9. Ross Byrne was selected ahead of Jonathan Sexton at fly-half and replied with a 14-point haul off the bench.
Additionally, Sean Cronin and James Lowe crossed over for the Blues to ensure they had a healthy cushion by the end of the contest. They will now look to finish the season on the high when they face Glasgow Warriors in Celtic Park this Saturday.
Having overcome the challenge of Scarlets in last year’s final at the Aviva Stadium, they will seek a repeat result at the home of Neil Lennon’s Celtic. Leo Cullen’s men will need to fire on all cylinders in the Scottish capital after Glasgow ruthlessly dispatched Ulster in Friday’s semi-final at nearby Scotstoun Stadium.
Following his cameo appearance off the bench in the previous weekend’s European reversal to Saracens in Newcastle, Kill’s James Tracy was left out of the match day squad on their return to home soil. Given Fergus McFadden (suspension) and Adam Byrne (injury) were also ruled out, Kildare interest lay solely on the Munster side.
Athy native Joey Carbery had regained fitness just in time for the showdown with his former province and Eadestown’s Tadhg Beirne retained his spot in the second row alongside Jean Kleyn. Both players looked sharp during the early exchanges, with Carbery’s excellent footwork giving Munster a strong attacking platform at times.
Despite falling behind to an early Byrne penalty, his former out-half rival register a brace of successful place-kicks to edge Munster into the ascendancy. Carbery’s second strike at goal coincided with the sin-binning of Lowe for a deliberate knock-on.
This presented Munster with an ideal opportunity to establish a foothold, but Leinster dug deep in the absence of the New Zealander. Byrne levelled matters before his return and also slotted a kick deep into stoppage-time to place Leinster 9-6 in front at the break.
Byrne and Carbery traded scores on the resumption, though Munster had already suffered their own numerical advantage when Niall Scannell was yellow-carded. In contrast to the Red Army in the opening half, Leinster exploited the extra space to telling effect in this period.
Following superb build-up from front-row partners Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong, Cronin – who began his professional career at Munster – crashed over on the right-flank. This moved Leinster to within touching distance of another league final appearance.
It wasn’t necessarily plain sailing for them as Johann van Graan’s visitors persevered in the closing moments of the action. They lacked that extra spark in attack, however, and Lowe sprinted past the whitewash to put the icing on the cake.
Sexton’s subsequent conversion drifted well past the target, but it was of little consequence for a victorious Leinster.