Battle of Ireland

BUCKLE up. Hold on to your seat. Take a deep breath and get ready for an emotional white-knuckle ride that should come with a health warning.

After weeks of hype, hysteria over tickets and the usual histrionics – it’s time to rumble.

Forget the Six Nations, shut out talk of Grand Slams and tuck the Lions suitcase under the bed (for a few weeks at least). There’s the small matter of the Heineken Cup to sort out – and the carrot of history to further whet the appetite.

For Leinster, a chance to shake off the monkey that threatens to overshadow the careers of some of its brightest, but ageing stars.

For Munster, the opportunity to book its place in rugby’s Hall of Fame.

Leave what happened three years ago at Lansdowne Road where it belongs – in the archives. Both sides are almost unrecognisable since then. Leinster have added much-needed steel to their pack, have mastered the craft of grinding out results but have forgotten how to score tries.

The underdog tag that for so long motivated Munster has been removed, they have added a few more bullets to their armoury and are scoring tries for fun.

However, Leinster’s double-drubbing at the hands of their fiercest rivals this year will be a little harder to forget.

With the 82,500 sellout at Croker set to break a world record for a club fixture, there is no doubt that the game – dubbed the All-Ireland rugby final – will leave a sizeable dent in sporting folklore.

But there are a few imponderables that will dominate pub talk ahead of today’s 5.30pm kick-off.

Contepomi’s demons, Elsom’s battle with O’Callaghan, the absence of Tomás O’Leary, O’Driscoll versus O’Gara, Mafi’s muscle, the Earls factor, Leinster’s set piece – and that’s only on the pitch.

What happens in the stands and terraces will have a significant bearing on the outcome. Lansdowne Road was effectively a home fixture for Munster, but will Paul O’Connell’s famed Red Army have it all its own way today?

Drico did his best this week to stir local passions, claiming Leinster supporters who jumped on the Munster bandwagon in recent years were traitors to the cause. There has also been talk of moves by clubs in the province to limit the volume of tickets leaking over the border.

But while both sets of supporters will stand side by side during the 80-minute rollercoaster ride, when the dust has settled after the epic battle and Croke Park has spilled out its contents into the summer day, some will seek sanctuary to reflect on what went wrong – while the others will soak in the success and dream of what’s to come.