No Lions 'laughing stock' matter as Dan Sheehan and Leinster bear winners medals
Dan Sheehan will arrive into British and Irish Lions camp today with the broadest smile, feeling like a real winner with Leinster at last.
Andy Farrell's side take on Argentina this Friday at Aviva Stadium but the nine Leinster men who played in the BKT URC final may be rested.
Having featured mostly off the bench the last time Leinster won the then-Pro14 title in 2021, the hooker didn't play in the final and has had to endure numerous European and URC knockout blows since.
"[It's] the first one that I feel properly a part of," the 26-year-old forward told reporters after Saturday's 32-7 win over Bulls at Croke Park.
"It was definitely on my mind over the last couple of years that you work so hard during the season and you're spending the majority of your time with this group of players and, you know, it hasn't changed a whole lot.
"So the hunger was there and I think you saw from the first whistle. Incredibly enjoyable, incredibly rewarding.
"It's a really tough competition to win, you have to play an incredible amount of games.
"You have to work your asses off with a full squad to get that home advantage and I thought we did a great job managing the energy levels throughout the last weeks and peaking at the right times.
"To get a URC win is something really special."
Talk about a mood-changer.
Such has been the expectation on Leinster over the last four seasons, Sheehan suggested that coming into national camp, where they have been incredibly successful, came with a trepidation that he feels might have spread to Lions, had they stuttered against the Bulls.
He said: "It would have been a sickener to go into camp there with nothing after missing the first two weeks, coming away with nothing and we'd probably be the laughing stock of the group again.
"But we've got the medal now.
"We were so hungry as a group, to get silverware, to win the URC, that we parked [the Lions talk] pretty easy.
"We were left alone by the Lions, we didn't hear a thing from them which is exactly the way we wanted it to be; we knew we needed to get a job done and focus solely on the URC and if you look too far into the future you'll slip up.
"We did a good job as a group, addressing it early when it was first announced, say congrats and move on, we're committing to this fully."
Leinster looked like their usual selves as they raced into a 19-0 half-time, capped off by a ferocious goalline stand that denied the Bulls a foothold.
"[A fast start] something we focussed on these last two weeks," said the Dubliner (above), who made his 73rd Leinster appearance in front of 46,127 at GAA HQ.
"Last week [against Glasgow] you saw we got a penalty straight off the kickoff after a big collision and the approach was the same this week, same sort of thing, kick off, lay into them, dominant collisions and scrum penalties.
"It just puts a seed of doubt, I suppose, in the opposition's head, especially when you're at home and the crowd is getting behind you straight away.
"And you could feel that off the crowd and the crowd here were unbelievable. They got in behind us in those crucial moments.
"There was that sort of moment for maybe 10 minutes before half time when we were parked on our line and it was probably some of the most physical rugby we've been a part of this year.
"How rewarding it was not to let them in then. I think that gave the crowd a lift. It definitely gave us a lift."
Meanwhile, Sheehan also paid tribute to Ross Byrne (above), who played his last game for Leinster after 10 years with the province.
The out-half, who scored a conversion and assisted Fintan Gunne's try, was not spared any criticism over the last number of years as the province suffered defeats in European finals and URC semi-finals.
The 30-year-old will move to Gloucester this summer after playing 186 matches for Leinster.
"Ross is an unbelievable player, an unbelievable professional, and the standards he drives are like no one else in our group at the minute," said Sheehan.
"I think he gets a hard time over the last 10 years and he doesn't give a f***, really, and he just gets on with it.
"He loves Leinster, and he loves winning, and he loves the group and I was happy for him.
"He got a good reception from the crowd and he'll be truly missed as a person in the changing room as someone that drives what we try to do incredibly well.
"Similar to a sort of Johnny Sexton character, of just being ruthless with with what we expect of each other and holding people accountable."
Elsewhere, Leinster also said that scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, who was a late withdrawal on Saturday morning, was suffering from a dead leg picked up in the semi-final win over Glasgow.
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