Muldoon urges fans to fire-up Connacht

CONNACHT skipper John Muldoon has sent an SOS to fans to support the side tomorrow night as they bid to secure a quarter-final place in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Victory over Montpellier at the Sportsground on Friday would book a spot in the last eight and the expected win away to Olympus Madrid the following weekend would guarantee Michael Bradley’s men would be at home in that knockout tie.

Muldoon, however, isn’t losing focus on tomorrow night.

He said: “The whole lot hinges on Friday. It comes down to defeating Montpellier or it will all be lost. Hopefully, we will have a big crowd on Friday night. French teams always make it difficult down there. They boo everything you do and get behind their own side. We need the crowd to get Connacht across the line on Friday night.

“Our support has been growing all the time and we have not always delivered for them so it would be great to have a quarter-final to look forward to in April,” said the 27-year-old who will be making his 29th appearance in the competition when he leads the side out on Friday.

That side will include the Irish-qualified Brett Wilkinson after the South African loosehead prop was cleared to play after recovering from a hand injury picked up in the St Stephen’s Day loss at Munster. Full-back Gavin Duffy is ruled out with a jaw injury but coach Michael Bradley will otherwise has a fully fit squad.

CONNACHT: L Bibo, A Browne, F Carr, S Cronin, A Flavin, J Hagan, I Keatley, R Loughney, G Naoupu, T Nathan, M Nikora, K Matthews, M McCarthy, R Morris, J Muldoon, F Murphy, R Ofisa, C O’Loughlin, M Swift, N Ta’auso, B Upton, B Wilkinson, A Wynne.