Quinlan ban appeal set to drag intoNew Year
Once the letter arrives, they will have 72 hours in which to make their case as to why the ban should be lifted altogether or reduced to a minimum four-week period.
Given the time of year, however, it is likely to be after Christmas before any further action is taken and in that case Quinlan will miss Wednesday’s Magners League clash with Leinster at Thomond Park and the game on New Year’s Eve against Connacht in Galway.
It will be today at the earliest before coach Declan Kidney is in a position to name his squad for the visit of Leinster, a game sure to attract a 13,000 capacity attendance at the Limerick venue.
A number of his squad, including Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer, Frankie Sheahan, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, David Wallace and Denis Leamy are in Portugal with the national squad for warm weather training and don’t return home until tomorrow.
Several of these players, including skipper O’Connell, were carrying knocks after last week’s Heineken Cup game against Cardiff and Kidney will be checking on their availability before announcing what will in any case be an extended squad.
One of the many fascinating aspects of Wednesday’s game is the return to Thomond Park of Stephen Keogh and Trevor Hogan, who switched from Munster to Leinster in the close season.
Keogh, a native of Dromkeen, Co Limerick, and Nenaghman Hogan had been unable to claim a regular place in the highly competitive Munster pack over the previous couple of seasons and so a move to Leinster made considerable sense.
Nobody is more pleased about that than Leinster coach Michael Cheika, so impressed with Keogh and Hogan that he included them in the starting line-up for the two recent wins over Agen in the Heineken Cup and they will be in the centre of the action once again on Thomond Park.
In certain circumstances, their return home could be looked upon as an intimidating proposition but in truth they have always been extremely popular with Munster fans who will afford them a lively and cheerful festive welcome!
“I grew up with a lot of the lads at Munster but time moves on and I think they all respected my decision to move to Leinster,” says Keogh. “There will be a lot of banter but all good natured. I’m really enjoying life in Dublin with Leinster. I honestly feel as though we are going in the right direction.
“We’re reasonably happy about our form in our last three outings, up in Ravenhill three weeks ago, at Lansdowne Road the other week against Agen and then in the away leg last weekend where we showed a lot of grit. You have to win in France to have serious hopes of progressing in the tournament and we were all pleased even if we do know that there are areas that we can improve on.
“We’re all on the same road, but we haven’t reached the goals that we have set ourselves so until that happens we’ll keep on working hard.”
Keogh learned his trade initially at St Munchins College and later with UCC, the Irish under 21s, Shannon and Munster and so is as skilled as most in playing up the opposition.
“Any team that goes to Thomond Park will be underdogs,” he says, keeping as straight a face as possible. “It’s incredibly tough and it will be a new experience for me to go down there as an opponent rather than as a member of the home side. It’s no secret that there’s a great atmosphere in the ground. I have found that the Leinster support this year has also been outstanding. OK, Lansdowne Road is a bigger stadium but it really makes it difficult for away teams when our supporters get behind you.”
“Don’t get me wrong. Playing with Munster was an honour and there were obviously some great times, but life moves on.”
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