Quinlan still haunted by shattering end to Lions dream
Quinlan copped a 12-week ban after appearing to gouge Leinster captain Leo Cullen during Munster’s Heineken Cup semi-final defeat to their provincial rivals last May, which ruled him out of the Lions’ trek to South Africa.
The 35-year-old yesterday spoke for the first time of his “massive regret” over the incident, and took full responsibility for his actions.
“It was reckless, it was contact in the eye area and that was my own fault. It’s not something I intentionally tried to do, I’d never advocate for anybody to go near anybody’s eyes,” said Quinlan.
“It certainly looked bad, it’s something that has had a bad effect on me, my family and friends, and people that are close to me. And people who are close to me know that’s not something I’d do, and I suppose I’d just like to let people hear me say it and be honest about it.
“I’m not trying to portray it or paint it up in a different way. It looked bad and it was bad, but from my point of view there wasn’t any intention from me to go near Leo’s eyes or any player’s eyes. I’ve never done that before.”
The 27-times capped Irish international also spoke of the crushing disappointment of missing out on the chance to become a Lion.
“I’ll never fully move on from missing out on the Lions tour, it’s a dream come true for any player,” he said.
“I was such a wildcard selection and I didn’t expect to be picked, so there was double the excitement for me than there was for the guys who knew they were going to be picked anyway. That will always be a disappointment, but life moves on.”
Quinlan described Cullen as “top class” in praising the Leinster skipper’s reaction to the gouging incident.
“It’s something that I fully regret and have to take ownership for, but my intention was to just try to pull Leo off whatever way I could and unfortunately what happened, happened,” he told RTÉ Sport.
“It happened in 0.4 of a second in real time, certainly if you watch it in slow motion it looks a lot longer.
“I’m not trying to downplay the incident, but I take full ownership of it, it didn’t look good, fortunately there was no injury and speaking to Leo after the game he didn’t have much recollection of anything that happened and was top class about it, and certainly helped me in the hearing.
“I have to compliment him on that and thank him, because from my point of view it was a massive regret, and it’s my own fault. I’d like people to know that it was a reckless mistake, it wasn’t intentional from my point of view.”
Having “been given a new lease of life” by training with Munster’s crop of rising stars, Quinlan says he’s now ready to face the new season, and has no fixed retirement plans yet.
“I’m just looking at this season for the moment, to repay the faith Munster have shown me over the years and put the whole incident that happened the summer behind me.
“I can’t say I am going to play on for another couple of years or I am going to retire. There’s no reason I should retire if I’m enjoying it, and still wanted by Munster. Hopefully that will be the case at the end of the season.”
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