O’Connell proud of players’ response

PAUL O’CONNELL was battle bruised and exhausted after last night’s thrilling Magners League victory over the Ospreys, but very proud of the way Munster tackled a very tricky task on the back of bitterly disappointing performances in the preceding weeks against Connacht and Ulster.

O’Connell was immense but so, too, were all of those around him. As for coach Tony McGahan, he came out of the exercise with flying colours, especially his handling of the out-half situation which saw academy player Conan Doyle thrown in at the deep end with Ronan O’Gara and Jeremy Manning initially unavailable for selection and Paul Warwick forced to leave the field injured coming up to half time.

“We badly needed a performance and a win,” O’Connell acknowledged. “After the last two weeks, this was a great response. I don’t know what our record away from home against the Ospreys might be, but I know it’s not good. So it was a great win.”