John Muldoon’s bumpy road approaches the promised land

In 13 often trying seasons with his native province, 33-year-old John Muldoon could probably never have imagined days like this. But having led his side with a typical tour de force in his 213th league game, the Portumna man now will lead out his team for the first final in their history. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving son of Connacht.

When the full-time whistle went, he collapsed to the ground, before standing to his feet to receive an embrace from Tiernan O’Halloran, quickly followed by hundreds of supporters. They’d played their part too.

“History tells you that home advantage is huge and when you see the scenes out there, I was trying to get off the pitch and it was bloody impossible.

“It was absolutely massive and I’m just delighted for everyone out there. There’s lots of people who’ve been coming and supported Connacht Rugby for longer than I have, and I’m delighted for all of them.”

“It was good to see a few ex-players in the crowd as well. As much as we take advantage of the heroics of now, you’ve got to look back at all those people who put in a lot of effort – coaches. Eric [Elwood] texted me last night, getting in before the crowd, and I’m delighted for someone like him who has given a lot.”

Outstanding

However, in echoing what he said to his team-mates, Muldoon quickly added: “It’s fantastic but we’ve won nothing yet and that’s the big thing. It’s great to get to a final but we’ve got to try to win it now. It’s not going to be easy. I thought Leinster were outstanding last night. Defence won the game, I think that five-minute period just after half time was what won them the game.

“Big days and big occasions and the big men come to the fore. Heaslip, Sexton, all those lads were very, very good. We have our work cut out.”

Muldoon leads what he described as a young team who has had to learn quickly in this ground-breaking and historic campaign.

Yet another example of a relatively ‘new’ player making major strides was match-winner Niyi Adeolokun, the 25-year-old Nigerian-born winger who seven years ago was released by a Leinster under-19 development squad.

Muldoon was nearest to Adeolokun when roaring him home for the winger’s fifth try in five matches. “It’s a prime example of confidence,” said Muldoon.

“He came in very raw, very light, a very shy young man. Things have changed! He’s dancing in the dressing room, scores a couple of tries and confidence beams through.

“He’s a lovely, humble young fella and it’s amazing what getting over the whitewash can do. One of the things is that he’s not the biggest lad but he’s very, very brave. In defence, especially, for a lad that’s only in a professional environment for just over two years, he’s doing phenomenally well.

“You can’t beat speed. He’s electric and a couple of times up the wing when he got the ball, I was thinking, ‘Jeez, he’s tackled’ and then he gets another 10 metres.

“Matty [Healy] the same; when you’ve got wingers who are able to do that you’ve always got a chance of opening up a game.

Slagged him

“Niyi’s confidence is getting better and better. Aly slagged him and said he was a non-scoring winger but since he said that to him, he’s been on fire.”

In contrast to Muldoon, his Leinster counterpart Jamie Heaslip has garnered three Heineken Cups to go with two league titles and a European Challenge Cup in his trophy- laden time with his native province, not to mention his Grand Slam and two Six Nations titles with Ireland.

Yet Leinster learned how to win after also learning how to lose. Those the three league final defeats of 2011, ’12 and ’13 – to Ospreys either side of Munster – are memories which remain as vivid for Heaslip.

“I don’t know if you guys have been into our gym but on the wall that we see every day, it covers all moments from Leinster, good or bad. The Ospreys one always catches my eye, 31-30, when they came back and caught us in the second half,” said Heaslip, in reference to the 2012 defeat at the RDS, in the wake of their semi-final win over Ulster on Friday night. “So like anything, you take your learnings from games like that.”

Neutral

“We’re fully aware that whoever we come up against next week, it’s a neutral ground, it’s going to be tough. A final, semi-final, it’s knockout rugby. You’ve been watching it long enough.

“It’s the team that makes the fewest mistakes on the day that generally wins. We probably made fewer errors today. But come next week, it’s another game. You’re starting from scratch all over again.”