Connacht captain Muldoon has no time for playing the ‘victim’ after latest setback

HALF-time in Llanelli on Sunday, and Connacht led Scarlets by 10-3. Not a bad score line but not great when considering what went before.

The visitors were annoyed to have conceded a penalty, which was converted minutes before the break. But they were angry – no, apoplectic – at having accumulated just 10 points. Twice Connacht players had crossed the whitewash, and twice the Television Match Official (TMO) ruled ‘no try’.

Matt Healy’s effort probably wasn’t a try, as he appeared to lose control of the ball before grounding, but they’re often given. Referee Marius Mitrea appeared to be about to award a try but was asked to ‘look again’ by the TMO. Eoghan Masterson’s was a try, no question. He touched down after the ball squirted out over the line but incredibly Paul Adams, the Welsh TMO, said it was knocked-on.

Standing in the dressing room at Park Y Scarlets, Connacht captain John Muldoon, no doubt seething by the injustice of it all, told his warriors: “Don’t be the victims; let’s not be the victims”.

By full-time, they were victims. A rush of blood to Ronan Loughney’s head, led to Mitrea, in consultation with Adams, ruling the substitute prop had lifted Aaron Shingler’s legs up in the air, which caused him to land on his back. Yellow card and penalty.

That was conceded in the 79th minute, and converted, leaving it 21-19, to rob the visitors of a first away win against Scarlets since 2004. It was agonising considering Connacht had fought back from 13-18 down, to lead by 19-18 with just two minutes on the clock.

Afterwards, Muldoon addressed his troops again. And despite the gut-wrenching nature of the loss, the blindside flanker remained positive. “I said in terms of what we’ve done this year and where we’ve been, and what we’ve achieved, there was a lot to take out of that game. We hadn’t scored a try in the two games (Ulster and Leinster) previously. We got over the whitewash four times.

“Obviously we only got awarded two of them but on another day we could have scored four or five tries against a team that are top of the league. Our defence has been going well but there was a bit of a drop-off in the last couple of weeks in attack and I think we certainly got back on track again. That attacking edge was back,” he said.

The Portumna man was emphasising the positives at the tail-end of the week in which it was announced he had extended his contract with the province for another year.

Much has changed since Muldoon made his debut 13 seasons ago. For one, the Sportsground is “unrecognisable” now. The 33-year-old, who has played 260 times for the club, and accumulated three international caps, remembers the day Connacht faced Harlequins at College Road in 2004. He was in the main stand, looking over at the opposite side of the ground, where the Clan Terrace et al is now.

“There was one building there. That was it. Nothing else. There was no gym; there were no bars, no nothing. Just four or five steps and a couple of hundred people rammed into the steps. There were pissy-beds of yellow flowers all over the ground. And it was live on Sky Sports and all you could see was these yellow things, dandelions,” he recalls, half embarrassed.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.