Flannery sets sights on Thomond quarter-final to repay Munster fans
The champions’ six try demolition of Sale, who had only conceded nine tries in 11 Guinness Premiership outings, guaranteed them a place in the last eight for the 11th season in a row, but a home quarter-final remains the ultimate goal.
Flannery and company must secure a bonus point victory against Montauban if they are to play their last eight clash at Thomond Park.
And he revealed, he and the team have added motivation, in their quest.
“A home draw in the quarter-finals means so much — it is massive. However, we went away and won last year, although with the recession on at the moment everyone wants to get a home fixture for the fans.”
He stressed: “The job isn’t done yet. Beating Sale was all about getting some pride back in playing at Thomond Park. We are all very much aware this is only the first step and there is still another Pool match to go but if we can get a result in France this weekend we will be where we want to be. ”
There was a record Munster home Heineken Cup Pool attendance of 26,000 for the Sale match and Flannery said the players owed a good performance to the fans after their recent 37-11 Magners League loss to Ulster.
“There has been a lot of emphasis put on the change of Thomond Park since it was redeveloped. But Thomond Park has been built on the performances of the Munster players. There hasn’t been much change in the way the supporters back us, nor in the actual building. If anyone has been questioned it has been the players. We knew our performance against Ulster was unacceptable. We were embarrassed and we wanted to come back to serve up something better.
“However, the scoreline flattered us a little bit in the end. Sale are a lot better than they showed and I’m sure will come back a better team in Europe next season. But we are looking to build on what we have done so far — we are still very ambitious. We have some great coaches here who are trying to bring on the younger players. That’s the exciting thing about being at Munster — you are always improving. There is a lot of honesty about the squad, there is a good work ethic and it’s a good place to be.”
Flannery yesterday joined Federico Pucciariello and Marcus Horan at the 100th anniversary launch of the Munster Schools Senior Cup, which will be sponsored for the fifth successive season by Avonmore Milk.
Castletroy College, founded in 2000, captured the senior and junior cups in 2008, so it was fitting that details of the forthcoming tournaments were announced in the school yesterday.
Just as with the Junior Cup over the past few years, the rules for the Senior Cup have been amended so that the losing quarter-finalists will remain in the competition with a chance to get back into contention through a back-door system.
“Up to now, teams have been training all season long only to find themselves out of the competition after their first match,” pointed out Greg Ashe, Secretary of the Schools Committee. “This system means t the last eight schools will have at least two matches in three rounds of quarter-finals rather than a straight knockout.”
The Senior Cup gets under way on Wednesday week, January 28. Castletroy face a tricky match away to Rockwell; PBC and CBC take on Ard Scoil Ris and St Munchin’s respectively, while Glenstal, who have emerged impressively from the preliminary rounds, meet Crescent Comprehensive.
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