LANSDOWNE’S TITLE TRIUMPH

EVEN in the final seconds victory was not assured, but Lansdowne coach Mike Ruddock hailed his ‘formidable’ players after they hung on at Aviva Stadium on Saturday to win their second Ulster Bank League title in three years. Having been pushed all the way in a 100-minute semifinal by Young Munster, his players somehow found a way to see off the defending champions by a point despite trailing by nine with the final quarter still to play. An early second-half yellow card for prop Adam Boland allowed Clontarf to grab 11 points after Matt D’Arcy touched down and Rob Keogh slotted two penalties, but Ruddock’s men didn’t panic. ‘We had a catchphrase all season which is “next minute”,’ explained Ruddock (right). ‘You can’t change what has gone on before, you can’t blame somebody for an intercept try or for a yellow card or stupid penalty, no point in wasting energy and your focus. ‘We didn’t buckle mentally, we stayed strong, stayed believing we could change the minutes after that and that is what we did. ‘Although we have been faced with close games [this season], in this one we were staring down the barrel in a final against a top team having scored a try against the run of play so that’s a test for any team and we passed that test superbly.’ For Clontarf there were a couple of near misses in the first half to look back on while coach Andy Wood was frustrated by a debatable yellow card for Ariel Robles in the final 10 minutes. ‘Absolutely, it took a long time for a yellow card to be given. We were clearly on top from the first scrum, it’s an area where we thought we could get some purchase, we certainly did and I don’t think we were fully rewarded for it,’ said Wood, who could not have asked more of his players. ‘We played all the games we could this season, we maxed it out, but to come up short in a final, whatever the conditions, whatever the scenario, is just very, very disappointing. I’m disappointed for the players, the effort they put in today, all season, has been phenomenal.’