Simon Keogh was the only member of the Leinster squad who didn’t get on the pitch at Croke Park in 2009.
SIMON KEOGH STILL looks back on 2009 with mixed emotions. He was there when Leinster beat Munster on that famous day in Croke Park , but in some ways, he feels as though he wasn’t. As Leinster booked their place in the Heineken Cup final with a statement 25-6 win over their fierce rivals at the home of the GAA, Keogh was the only member of the matchday squad who didn’t get a run out.
The damage occurred during a game at Edinburgh, the winger getting his foot caught in the turf as he moved to chase an Isa Nacewa crossfield kick. Come the week of the Munster game, Keogh found himself lacing up for a fitness test in an empty Croke Park. As you drove from Donnybrook all the way through to Croke Park there were people lining the streets, shouting and screaming, and I knew it was the closest thing to a Test match that I would ever feel, certainly. Advertisement “And that’s the thing. I knew my opportunity to play international rugby was dying away. I was in my late twenties and I’d played at ‘A’ level but I hadn’t played an international Test, so that was the closest thing I’ll ever experience to it.
“But if you look back at the team, the names we had, Shane Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll, Leo Cullen, they’re all leaders. Shane Jennings, Chris Whitaker, you can go through the whole list of players. It was a team that was full of really experienced and real quality players.”Before Felipe Contepomi lay crumpled on the grass, Sexton had been warming a seat alongside Keogh.
“The first thing he had to do was take over a kick because Felipe had injured his ACL, and a sign of the man, he went straight on and kicked it straight over the sticks. Then typical Johnny, he was combative straight away. It was brilliant. Obviously there’s a lot spoken about a particular moment, Johnny standing over Ronan , but it was kind of taken up with the emotion of the occasion, the emotion of being a do-or-die time for Leinster.
Croke Park Simon Keogh Leinster
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