Ryan Leads Cork Con To Title Defence

The much anticipated Bank of Ireland Munster Senior Cup final between Cork Constitution and Young Munster gets underway tomorrow at Thomond Park Stadium (KO 2.30pm).

Holders Cork Constitution will set out to defend their title against their Limerick rivals, who they have become very familiar with this season, having already met on three occasions in the league.

“We know each other inside out by now”, said Cork Con captain James Ryan.

“They’ve beaten us twice in the league this season so we know they can be dangerous. We were lucky enough to win the playoff against them to reach the All Ireland final and are under no illusion that they will be well up for it on Saturday.

Originally from Cashel, Tipperary man Ryan recently led his side to claim Con’s four in a row All Ireland Bateman Cup titles earlier in the month and will lead his charges tomorrow off the back of their loss against Clontarf last Sunday in the All Ireland league final.

“After the disappointment of last week there’s nothing better than to have another final to play for”, he stressed. “We’re very confident going into the match and we’re really looking forward to the challenge.

“There are four of us on the squad that are going for our four in a row senior cup titles and as a player, what more motivation do you need.

“To win would be a huge achievement for the club. It is a great honour to have the three medals already and to be able to captain the winning team would be fantastic.”

With a six day turnaround heading into a second final, Ryan said preparations have been very positive all week and is confident the side will do well on the day.

“In terms of preparation – we’ll do what we’ve been doing all season. From Christmas time we kicked on and played great rugby and we’re not going to change anything come Saturday.

“Like last weekend, we played to our strengths and overall we put up a good performance.”

“It’s going to be a great game and a great way to finish off the season. The top two Munster teams will be battling it out, hopefully the weather will be good and we can make it a great occasion for everyone.”

Cork Constitution boast 26 senior cup titles to their credit while Young Munster will set out to claim their eighth win.

Young Munster last lifted the trophy in 2010 under the captaincy of hooker Ger Slattery who also leads the Limerick outfit into tomorrow’s final.

Having agonisingly lost out to Con in a tightly contested AIL semi final, they will be hungry to reverse the result and add some silverware as a reward for a strong season.

Whatever the result, the meeting between these two quality sides, as always, promises to be a great spectacle and a fitting finale to the domestic rugby season.