Sam Coghlan Murray, who scored two tries against Leeds Carnegie from the wing, described the feeling of winning back-to-back British & Irish Cups with Leinster ‘A’ as ‘unbelievable’.
“To get it back-to-back after last year is just massive for the ‘A’ team,” admitted Sam Coghlan Murray after Friday night’s final at Donnybrook. “We’ve been working towards it all year and it’s a nice way to finish it off.”
Despite the winning margin of 27 points, Coghlan Murray was quick to point out that before Brendan Macken’s intercept try Leeds were just beginning to find a way back into the game and scored two converted tries in a six-minute period on the hour mark.
“It was tougher than the score-line suggests. They had us on the ropes when they were coming back in the second half and it was only for Macken’s intercept we would’ve been in a little trouble. We just kind of fell asleep for 20 minutes.”
When Leeds gained momemtum with those two tries, Leinster ‘A’ were already leading 37-3 with two tries from Coghlan Murray and a try each from Luke McGrath and Darragh Fanning giving Girvan Dempsey’s men a commanding lead.
With the British & Irish Cup secured for another year, attention now turns to the RaboDirect PRO12 final at the RDS next Saturday.
With a big win behind them, Leinster ‘A’ head coach Dempsey is looking for his team to get behind the senior squad as they prepare for the league decider against Glasgow Warriors.
“It’s going to be a big week of training and the ‘A’ boys are going to get behind the seniors and help them through the week. Hopefully, come Saturday night, we’ll have two trophies in the cabinet,” said the former Leinster and Ireland full-back.
Leinster ‘A’ are the first team to successfully defend the British & Irish Cup and Dempsey spoke of his delight with the performance of his young squad over the whole campaign.
“The players were immense, they’re just a pleasure to coach. The way they performed tonight is just a culmination of all the hard work they’ve put in all season.
“The defence was outstanding. What was more pleasing was some of the execution in attack against a very tough Leeds side.”
Dempsey singled out Ross Molony for praise after the 20-year-old came on early in the first half when lock Ben Marshall was forced off through injury.
“Ben Marshall went off very early on with an injury and then Ross Molony, a young guy, first year in the Academy – he’s on the Irish Under-20 squad going to the Junior World Championship – came on and had a superb performance, a man of the match performance – outstanding.
“This year has been really pleasing…39 players have played in the British & Irish Cup this year for Leinster ‘A’ and everyone has contributed to the success of the team and I think tonight is a culmination of all the great work that has gone on.”
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