DUBLIN PLAYERS WOULD have enjoyed yesterday’s win immensely, and if Captain Bryan Cullen’s winning speech was anything to go by, then Coppers was the place to be last night.
However, the team have also been engaging in less hedonistic pursuits following their historic win, as the photos below attest:
Paul Casey and Bryan Cullen
Kevin Nolan, Bryan Cullen and Paul Casey with Connor Tierney
Sean Murray with Neill Hoey
Sean Murray with Neill Hoey
Eamon Fennell with Clara Keane
Bryan Cullen with Neill Hoey
Eamon Fennell with Emma Phillips
Dziugas Skripkauskas with the Dublin colours
Sean Murray and Phillip McMahon with Conor Hind and Gerard Gaffney
Bryan Cullen with Carly Moran and Eoin O'Neill
Bryan Cullen with Carly Moran
Members of the Dublin team with Neill Hoey
Battled nobly but missed a crucial kick to tie the game which cost dearly, but good to watch in comparison to Leinster.
@Martin McKenna: I don’t how long more it will take to realise that we have big problems at ten countless times these kicks have cost us games. Hopefully Deegan can step up because if they want to be challenging the big teams on a consistant basis you need a reliable goal kicker and someone who can control the game a lot better.
Better by Connacht, although we did overplay at times, there was a general purpose and incision to it. McKeown at 8 and TOH on wing were massive. Bundee had a poor game by his standards. We just cannot close out game at moment but a marked improvement on last week.
Best performance of the season so far and should have secured a draw after scoring the 4th try. The back row were fantastic and Butler looks like a class signing. Farrell was very good again as was TOH and caused the Scarlets a lot of problems in defence. Hopefully we can build on this performance now because we’ve been very poor so far and have a good crack at Ulster next week.
I’m lovin the way Keane has Connacht playin. Can’t wait to see them play Leinster of the park later in the season
Connacht look like a well coached side with a discernible game plan. Tom Farrell’s game has come on a ton since he left Leinster which raises a few questions as to why this is so.
@Tom Reilly: Are you talking about the same Connacht that have lost four out of the last five games? Okaaaayyyyy.
Kelleher, Farrel and McKeon ran a combined 290m and beat 16 defenders between them! Outrageous stats
Beirne made the big difference in the end. He was responsible for a couple of big turnovers and a try out of nothing. Kinda crazy how he slipped through the cracks at Leinster given that they’ve been short on quality second rows for a few years. A lot of the Welsh fans are saying they wish he could play for Wales, hopefully he has a big future back here.
As for the game, it was one of those strange loses were I came out feeling pretty positive, maybe because I had written Connacht off against the champions after the bad start to the season. A few guys stood up, McKeon had a huge game, O’Halloran was his usual excellent self, but for me Tom Farrell has been a revelation. I thought he looked pormising when he joined last season, but I think we might have a real gem there. He always seems to have an offloading option, but he’s clever about when he does it, he’s got decent footwork before contact and he’s strong.
The most disappointing things were the place kicking and losing the LBP. Carty has a lot of good qualities, but we need someone who can kick to tie up a game with a few mins left. Really disappointing to go from a possible 3 match point draw to just a try bonus point.
Great game. Connacht getting there.
Sloppy just before halftime to concede the try was a turning point.
Looks like the highly rated defence coach we got from from Edinburgh has alot to answer for??? Too many soft trys and missed tackles
What a difference a week makes. Mckeon was chronic last week and this week he was fantastic. However caolin blade is just pants. He cant even tackle.
@Brian Jones: McKeon didn’t play last week?
@Elton Heffernan: He came off the bench and gave away two braindead penalties.
Keane is still getting to know our best squad, the second half of the cardiff match and this performance show some offense improvement but our defense is poor, the new defense coach needs to get to grips ,expecting a big performance v munster,