Leinster issue worrying injury update ahead of URC Grand Final against Bulls as Leo Cullen made to sweat on key players
LEINSTER boss Leo Cullen is sweating on the fitness of several key stars ahead of Saturday's United Rugby Championship Grand Final against the Vodacom Bulls.
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Leinster boss Leo Cullen issed an injury update ahead of the URC final against the Bulls
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Josh van der Flier is one of a number of players that are facing a fitness battle for Leinster ahead of the decider against the Bulls
Cullen confirmed that Tommy O'Brien came through last weekend's
Jordan Larmour is also back in the mix after being named in the extended match day squad last time out.
The winger is expected to be in contention for a place in the 23.
But it's far from plain sailing elsewhere, with four big names being closely monitored.
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Tadhg Furlong, Garry Ringrose and Hugo Keenan are all nursing calf injuries and will undergo further assessment during the week.
Meanwhile, 2022 World Player of the Year Josh van der Flier is facing a race against time to prove his fitness after picking up a hamstring knock.
Leinster said a final call will be made on their availability closer to kick-off.
There's no change on the status of Will Connors, Brian Deeny, Caelan Doris, and Robbie Henshaw, who all remain doubtful at this stage.
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With a historic final taking place at Croke Park, Leinster are desperate to end their recent run of near-misses, and land the
But they may have to do it without some of their biggest names at the historic venue.
'Big weekend' - Peter O'Mahony embarking on hectic gardening project as he aims to add '300 plants'
The action get underway from 5pm KO, live on TG4 and Premier Sports 1.
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The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Jack Conan solely focused on British and Irish Lions duty just days after URC glory with Leinster
WITH precious little time between lifting the URC trophy and linking up with the Lions, Jack Conan made sure to worry more about care of the dog than the hair of the dog. Along with the retiring Cian Healy and the injured Caelan Doris — for whom he stood in as team captain — Conan raised Leinster's long-awaited latest piece of silverware last Saturday at Croke Park after the 32-7 final victory over the Bulls. 2 Dan Sheehan and captain Jack Conan of Leinster celebrate with the URC trophy after the win over the Bulls 2 Jack Conan is solely focused on the Lions after the club season ended in glory This was cause for celebration but with Conan being one of 12 Blues players selected in the Lions squad for the upcoming trip to Australia, there was never going to be a huge amount of time for him to bask in URC glory. While he did not feature against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium last night, he was in UCD yesterday morning as a number of Lions players hosted a training session for 90 schoolchildren from right across Ireland. And pressed on how much time he had to enjoy his province's success, the back-row ace said: 'The afterglow went pretty quickly on Monday morning when you had to pack up for the next eight weeks of your life. 'We had a great few days, it was nice. A few pints on Sunday as well early doors, which was good. I felt fresh enough on Monday morning. read more on rugby 'I had to go down to Bray at seven in the morning to get the dog. I was home early, so I was being wise. 'Monday was good. We didn't have much to do. We just came in, met everyone and got our gear. 'We had a proper runout here on Tuesday, which was soul-searching stuff. We had to run out the demons. 'You'd love to be playing against Argentina, but it is what it is. Everyone has been training away for the last week without us, so hopefully get a run out soon.' Most read in Golf Just a few short months before starting all three Tests that the Lions played during their tour of South Africa in 2021, Wicklow native Conan was in the Leinster side for their PRO14 final win over arch rivals Munster at the RDS. That was the last major title the Blues got their hands on until they collected the URC crown last weekend so Conan, 32, will hope for the same again as he looks to follow up a trophy in blue with a big summer in red. 'Big weekend' - Peter O'Mahony embarking on hectic gardening project as he aims to add '300 plants' There are still some question marks over whether the 2024-25 season will be deemed a success or a failure for Leinster given their latest Champions Cup bid ended in a shock semi-final loss to Northampton Saints at the Aviva Stadium. Yet even though he acknowledges their defeat to the English Premiership outfit was a difficult one to take, Conan stressed any campaign that sees a team winning a trophy ought to be regarded as a satisfactory one. He added: 'I think any season where you win something can never be deemed a failure. 'Obviously we want to go well in both competitions. I think if it hadn't been for the performance against Northampton . . . even if we had lost that game but we performed really well, I don't think people would have said much about it. 'The problem is when you are winning most of the time, it papers over cracks a little bit, so we had to have a good hard look at ourselves. 'You get to win a trophy in Croke Park with all your mates. 'At the end of the day, I would have taken that. 'I definitely wouldn't say it was a failure but there's definitely more in this club and in the lads. 'Hopefully a big few years still now ahead of us.'
The 42
7 hours ago
- The 42
'For us, it's 68 years, so the people were allowed that' - Sam Mulroy loads up again
THE TROUBLE WITH Shangri-La, is eventually you have to go home and de-scale the kettle. While Sam Mulroy and the Louth team and management went bananas after bridging the 68-year gap back to their last Leinster title, it was fun and it was glorious. And for it to be Meath as the vanquished? Ah, stop! Too much! Too much! 'It was something that none of us, Louth or Meath, probably ever experienced as players. It was unbelievable. I think I was just saying to the few lads here today that like, I think All-Ireland final day has an awful lot of neutral people here,' says Mulroy now. 'Like, I'd be at All-Ireland final day, Louth are not involved, so whereas on Leister final day, it was Louth/Meath, and there were 60,000-plus people here shouting for either side. So yeah, it was noisy, it was electric, it was class.' But 13 days later, they went out in Newbridge against Monaghan and lost. However, they still had Down to come and felt good enough about themselves, right up to the point when they realised that their diesel was still a little dirty. They left themselves too much to do. Down deservedly won. Which left a final day out against Clare, who, let's face it, was their banker. The three point margin and flow of the game however, shows that it was far from comfortable. Bit of a hangover, then? 'Yeah, I think so,' admits Mulroy at the launch of the All-Ireland football series. 'I suppose winning Leinster has been the main goal over the last number of years for this group, so I suppose when you get there and you do it, maybe there is a case of coming down a little bit. 'There was obviously a lot of celebrating for a few days after, and you have to because, as I said, it took a long time to get there and you have to enjoy it and live in the moment for it. 'But yeah, our performances against Monaghan and then Down weren't up to scratch, and we knew then going into last weekend that, as you said, we have to win to stay in the Championship. Advertisement Sam Mulroy scores a penalty for Louth in the nip-and-tuck first half of the Leinster SFC final 📱 Updates - 📺 Watch - — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 11, 2025 'I don't know if we played better that way, but we were backs against the wall a little bit sometimes, so maybe it was the best thing for us. So yeah, I thought at times last week we were good, so hopefully coming back to some sort of form.' They have the unenviable task of an away day in Ballybofey – not quite the fortress now that Tyrone tore up Jim McGuinness' unbeaten record in Pairc MacCumhaill – but intimidating nonetheless. Before we get to that yet, let's stay in the warm bath of the Leinster final before it turns tepid. 'For us, it's 68 years, so the people were allowed that, it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing for a lot of people, and hopefully it comes around, hopefully the gap's not as big the next time. But I suppose it's hard to get back on track, maybe, even just for people around the county and talking about it and not getting caught up in that as well. 'I think it was a short turnaround of our training on the Wednesday, obviously with a job to do and we knew we were going into a tough group. It was a case of maybe you didn't get to bask in it as much as you'd like, but we enjoyed the few days we did get.' Few deserved the few days quite like Mulroy. He had sent a series of shots wide earlier in the game, but stepped up with 1-7 in total and a critical two-point free towards the end. We're finding ourselves asking forwards about a lot of critical finishing scores in this brave new world of rules in 2025. How does Mulroy keep a clear head in those situations? After all, he is the championship's leading scorer with 4-34 from six games so far, and the top scorer in the round robin, with 3-20, despite losing two of those three games. 'Moments come and pass and it's trying to stay on track, not get too caught up in it, and by the time I took the last kick, I'd completely forgotten about the few before, the few I missed at the start of the second half. Sam Barnes / SPORTSFILE Sam Barnes / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE 'I was actually only watching the clips back with the boys on the Wednesday of training that you're like, 'why did I take that shot?' Or 'what was I doing there?'' The next bit is really, really interesting. Read twice if necessary. 'You nearly forget about them, and I think that's an ability and a skill that you develop over the years of just not getting too high and not getting too low with your shots or your chances or whatever it is, because the game's so fast and there's no time. 'I suppose a younger Sam maybe would have dwelled on them and let it get to me and affect me, but I suppose now as I've grown as a player, I've definitely learned to just move on and forget about it. 'I probably expected myself to score one or two of them, and I snatched that one on the top of the arc. I was probably trying to force it a little bit. 'I know the shots I've taken, I think I can definitely score them, and then it's just a case of probably feeling the moment a little bit more, understanding when you need to take the shot or is there a better opportunity to just keep the ball.' The partying, the few sherbets, the music and craic and stories and yarns were priceless. But in time, that stuff fades. What remains is how the children of Louth were inspired by a group of men who have become instant heroes. Only at the start of this week, the former Louth great JP Rooney forwarded Mulroy a video. It was of Rooney's soon, previously a football agnostic who wasn't bothered either way, he would never have been out with a football on his own. Then his father took him to the Leinster final. 'It was very nice to see that yesterday, that you're inspiring the next generation of players to be involved in GAA and want to play for their club or their county,' Mulroy says. 'And then I suppose, maybe there was a glass ceiling in Louth that we could never get over the line and win anything, and I suppose getting that job done, and then obviously the 20s and the minors doing really, really well as well, you're just hoping that people coming through in Louth don't see that there's a ceiling on this thing, you can go as far as we like.' All of this seemed a long way off when Mickey Harte took over in the winter of 2020 and Louth were a division 4 team. It looked just slightly less unlikely when Harte left after the 2023 season, having left Louth as a division 2 side and having reached a Leinster final. The feeling was of a team that had emptied themselves in a few seasons under an All-Ireland winning coach, and gravity would soon ensue. 'When Mickey Harte left I kind of felt, no matter who comes in there, it's a case of next man up and we keep going on this journey, and Ger (Brennan) came in with this team, and we've done rightly,' deadpans Mulroy. Related Reads 'We back you no matter what' - Shane Walsh on backing of Galway team mates 'Just a special talent' - 20 years on from Galway's 'Terrible Twins' brilliance in All-Ireland final 'You are used to being on the road' - Shane O'Donnell makes light of Donegal controversy 'Yeah, look, I think the group is an experienced group. We learned a lot under Mickey and Gavin, but I think the group realised that we didn't want it to stop there, so, yeah, it's a case of just keeping it going no matter who comes in. It brings them to Donegal and a man Mulroy knows well. In 2020 and 2021, Jim McGuinness was in helping out with Mulroy's club, Naomh Mairtín, when they won their first and second Louth county titles. They've had a few brief meetings since, a few snatched words at Ballyshannon for a league meeting and after last year's All-Ireland quarter final defeat. It would be good to catch up, Mulroy says. But they have miles to go before all that. 'We're not going up to Ballybofey for the craic or to fulfill a fixture,' he states. 'We're in a prelim quarterfinal for the All-Ireland series and we played in a quarter-final here last year. so it's a case of let's try and go better again this year and try and progress as a team. As I said it won't be just to fulfill a fixture and just let Donegal go through into a quarter-final.' * Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
The 42
7 hours ago
- The 42
'Not here to make up the numbers' - Conan keen for his Lions shot
HUGO KEENAN, JAMES Ryan, and Jamison Gibson-Park are down the far end of the sin-kissed pitch in the UCD Bowl, getting through some running as they continue to recover from injuries. Jack Conan appears to have taken some sort of knock too, but he's in the middle of a bunch of kids, leading passing and sidestepping drills. The Leinster, Ireland, and Lions number eight has compression bandaging covering his entire right leg but when he strolls over for a chat, he explains that it's nothing to worry about. 'Bangs and bruises… too many pints on the weekend,' jokes Conan. He and his Leinster team-mates celebrated their URC success heartily last weekend, enjoying a couple of days together before the Lions contingent joined Andy Farrell's squad on Monday, while others headed for Dingle to keep the party rolling. 'Class,' says Conan of the days after the win over the Bulls. 'It was a bit weird in the changing room after, like we didn't know how to win. Lads were a bit awkward or something like that, but it was good craic. Advertisement 'We went to the RDS for a bit which was good and then just pottered into town and everyone did their own thing. We had a great few days, it was nice, a few pints on Sunday as well early doors which was good. It was enjoyable celebrations.' He was home early on the Sunday and on the road at 7am on Monday morning to collect his dog in Bray. The afterglow of URC success vanished pretty quickly as Conan packed up for the next eight weeks on the road with the Lions. He says that going into camp on Monday was like the first day at school. Conan lifting the URC trophy at Croke Park. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO Conan trained with the Lions for the first time on Tuesday – 'soul-searching stuff, we had to run out the demons!' – but didn't play in last night's defeat to Argentina, although he did the warm-up beforehand as cover. Conan was among the nine players at yesterday morning's training session in UCD, which involved children from schools in each of the four Irish provinces – Moorefields Primary School in Ballymena, St Columba's National School in Dublin, Clerihan National School in Clonmel, Tipperary, and St Brendan's National School in Galway. Conan was thrilled that Leinster could finish their season on a high with that URC victory, but the Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton will linger. That's reflected when he's asked if Leinster's campaign was a success or failure. 'I think any season where you win something can never be deemed a failure,' he said. 'Obviously, we want to go well in both competitions, and I think if it hadn't been for the performance against Northampton, even if we had lost that game, but we performed really well, I don't think people would have said much about it. 'They're a quality side, but I think it was just the way we didn't show up that day and had a bit of a hangover for a few weeks. 'Maybe we don't get the result over the last two weeks if it wasn't for that game. Maybe it was the bit of a kick that we needed. 'The problem is when you win most of the time, it papers over cracks a little bit, so we had to have a good, hard look at ourselves and it was tough for a lot of lads, for everyone in the building. You get to win a trophy at Croke Park with all your mates, at the end of the day, I would have taken that. 'I definitely wouldn't say it was a failure, but there's definitely some more in this club and more in the lads, so hopefully there'll be a few years still ahead of us.' Conan with the Lions at the Aviva Stadium. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO Thoughts of Leinster have been pushed aside for now because Conan knows he has to bring his best to return to the starting Test shirt he wore on the last Lions tour in 2021. He says he loved that trip to South Africa, even if the pandemic meant it was like 'eight weeks of kind of solitary confinement' with the squad. This time in Australia will be very different. The injury to Caelan Doris means that Conan is the only out-and-out number eight in the squad, but Ben Earl and Henry Pollock have both played at the back of the scrum. Conan's leadership qualities add to his claims for a Test shirt. He will get his shot next Saturday against the Western Force in Perth. Conan has been rooming with Welsh flanker Jac Morgan this week, enjoying his company even if the Irishman says, 'I need subtitles half the time, it's a strong Welsh accent!' Related Reads 'Johnny is very different than what he was on the field' England's Freeman can be the 'untidy' wing that Farrell likes He knows that the battle for back row slots will be fierce, with Tom Curry and Josh van der Flier also firmly in the mix. 'There's some unbelievable athletes,' says Conan. 'We were training against the lads on Tuesday and the skillset and talent was incredibly high. I look forward to competing with the lads when I get the chance. 'I know Tom from before, I've been spending a good bit of time with Ben the last few days, a good fella and a great athlete. It's great to see them go to work and I'm sure myself and Josh, in particular, are excited to get in amongst them because we've only really had the one training day. 'The competition brings out the best in people and we're not here to just make up the numbers, so we'll look forward to competing with the lads.'
