O’Mahony: We’ll Have Our Work Cut Out

28th May 2015 By Munster Rugby

In line to become the first player to lead Munster into a final since Paul O’Connell in the 2011 league campaign, current squad captain Peter O’Mahony cherishes dearly Munster’s involvement in the final day of the 2014/15 Guinness PRO12.

On that said occasion in 2011, it was Munster who emerged victorious – defeating their interprovincial rivals Leinster in front of a sold out Thomond Park. This year, with league organisers opting for the competition’s first ‘destination final’ Munster will head to Belfast’s Kingspan Stadium with fans set to travel in large numbers as they bid to #MakeKingspanHome (pictured below).

While fans will look to paint the town red this weekend, the captain and his team will have their thoughts focused solely on the 80 minutes of rugby that lie in wait with O’Mahony relishing what would be his first Final appearance in the red of Munster.

“It’s great to be involved on a Cup Final week. It has been a while for Munster and these are the weeks a club like us wants to be involved in.”

Just one point was the margin between Warriors and Munster in last season’s semi-final, although the Corkman’s first PRO12 semi-final was a far less competitive affair when Munster were beaten off the park away to Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium in May 2012 (45-10). Last weekend’s win over the Welsh outfit at Thomond Park saw Munster lay to rest the demons of such a comprehensive defeat, but only just, and O’Mahony recognises the need for an improved and fully clinical 80 minutes come Saturday.

“We played some good rugby (against Ospreys), especially in the first half where we were quite clinical and early in the second half it was good to get Denis’ (Hurley) try. But unfortunately from there on mistakes started to happen and we made life harder than it should have been for ourselves.

“That’s the way these semi-finals can go. Ospreys are a quality side and we were probably guilty of backing off a little bit when we had that cushion on the scoreboard – that was silly of us. Still though, we’ve managed to get ourselves to a final and have the chance to win a trophy so we’ll need to learn from our errors against Ospreys.

In keeping with PRO12 history to date, the top two regular season finishers will again do battle for the league’s ultimate accolade, making for what the back-row believes will be another compelling clash between these Celtic rivals.

“It’s going to be a great game. Every time we’ve played them in recent years has made for very exciting encounters and this weekend won’t be any different with both sides bringing out the best in each other. We’ll certainly have our work cut out for us.”

Munster v Glasgow Warriors, Guinness PRO12 Final, Saturday May 30th at Kingspan Stadium – KO 6.30pm.