Cronin’s storming display leads to brief celebrations ahead of Ireland tour

LEINSTER last night won their seventh trophy since 2008 as they claimed their fourth league title with a breathless performance over Glasgow, which left many of the players bent over with exhaustion at the final whistle.

A brace from Zane Kirchner coupled to scores from Shane Jennings and Gordon D’Arcy (left) were buttressed by 14 points from out-half Jimmy Gopperth as Leinster overcame the early loss of Brian O’Driscoll in his lastever game.

Sean Cronin’s storming display was rewarded with the man-of-the-match award, with the hooker claiming their Heineken Cup exit to Toulon brought out a bold determination to win their domestic title.

‘It’s a fantastic way to end the year, it’s what you set out to do at the start of the year, to win the league, and after we went out of Europe early we put our full focus on winning this competition. We’ve a few guys leaving us this year and it’s a great way to finish it,’ said Cronin, who added there was no distraction regarding the retirements of O’Driscoll and Leo Cullen.

‘The lads were saying it wasn’t a place for sentiment, it was a case of going out

and winning and that’s the biggest way to give them a send off,’ added Cronin. ‘I think a lot of credit has to go to Matt [O’Connor] and the coaching staff, they’ve taken a bit of flak for us not playing well but we’ve put 34 points up on the board today.’

Leinster captain Jamie Heaslip was quick to hail the contributions of the entire 23-man squad after a game which seemed to move at the pace of a 100-metre sprint at times. Ian Madigan, Sean O’Brien and Jack McGrath all made their presence felt.

‘It was a massive squad effort, the guys who came off the bench with 20 minutes to go, when it was still touch and go, made a massive impact in the game, upped the levels and that’s what we look for off the bench is to increase the intensity,’ said Heaslip. ‘Glasgow are an unbelievably tough side to go up against and I’m absolutely shattered after that, so are the rest of the boys. It was a hell of a game between two sides who want to play expansive rugby, it was great to get the outcome we wanted.’

While Heaslip insisted their win would be celebrated, he said the moment would prove fleeting with an Ireland tour to Argentina and an emerging tour to Romania to come for many Leinster players. ‘We’ve got to move on now, a lot of us have tours to go on and it’s great to send off everyone like this.’