Home advantage won’t be decisive

CORK CON captain Frank Cogan does not believe ‘home’ advantage will be a major factor when they take on Garryowen in the AIB League Division One final at Musgrave Park on Saturday.

The Munster powerhouses have met twice already this season with Garryowen claiming the honours in the Munster Senior Cup final at Thomond Park and Con turning the tables a week later at Dooradoyle.

The Limerick club has won its last six AIB League fixtures on the road in Munster so it was no surprise to hear their captain Paul Neville play down the importance of the Cork venue yesterday.

“There should be a good crowd,” said his Con counterpart, Cogan. “The fact it’s on in Cork is great. We won’t have to travel that far.

“Garryowen are no strangers to Musgrave Park either so it’s not that much of an advantage. Maybe if it was a team from Belfast or Ulster, it might be but Garryowen are only up the road.”

Though they have won the league nine times between them since its inception 17 years ago, both carry something of a ‘nearly men’ reputation after a number of semi-final and final defeats.

Top of the table after the league stages, Con’s season almost derailed last week when they scraped past UL Bohemians 21-18 at Temple Hill and Cogan admits defeat would have been a “disaster” for the club.

“Its grand finishing top of the league but everyone knows its winning the play-offs that counts. We’ve been down this road before. We’ve finished top and then lost in finals to Shannon and Dungannon. It hurts but you have to focus on the next match.”

Garryowen experienced their own blip this year too, losing five games in a row in January thanks, in the main, to an injury nightmare.

But their return to form was emphasised again in their impressive 13-point win away to Clontarf in Castle Avenue.

“It was a semi-final so getting through was the important factor,” said Neville. “It didn’t matter whether it was a one-point victory or a ten-point victory. We played with the wind in the second half and we knew we could dog it out and grind them down.”

With the impressive Gerry Hurley/Eoghan Hickey partnership at nine and ten, Garryowen represent a formidable challenge but, in Con, they face a side that has suffered defeat only once in the league all season.

Garryowen coach Paul Cunningham has already gone on record to say that Saturday may not be a day for free-flowing, entertaining rugby and both captains are steeling themselves for a stint in the trenches.

“We would hope to play as open a game as possible,” said Cogan. “We have played good rugby all season but, if it comes down to it, we are going to have to scrap with Garryowen at some stage. It will be a war of attrition.”