‘We’re proud of everyone, it just wasn’t to be today’

Three-time champions they may be, but you tend to forget that yesterday was virgin territory for more than a few of those men wearing blue yesterday.

As many as nine of Matt O’Connor’s squad played in their first European Cup semi-final yesterday. So, disappointing as this was, it will stand to the likes of Jordi Murphy, Jack McGrath and Marty Moore in the years to come.

“I’ve got a taste of it now and I know how close I was to playing in my first European final. I’ll keep that memory now for years to come and if I’m in that position again I’ll do my best not to feel the way I did here after 100 minutes of rugby,” said Murphy.

Then again, there is no guarantee that any of them will ever make it so far into the European season again. After all, you would have raised many an eyebrow had you suggested in 2008 that Munster would be awaiting another decider seven years on.

Still, the return to the ranks next season of Jonathan Sexton would suggest that Leinster should be a more complete outfit a year from now and one in possession of a more clinical nature, too.

Many a moment will be remembered with some regret, but the two or so minutes on the stroke of the extra-time mid-point, when they boasted an extra man but coughed up 10 points, will stand out as the point they rue the most.

“It was just one of those things: the bounce of a ball,” said Murphy. “It might have turned out differently on a different day, but we’re proud of everyone. We gave it our all, it just wasn’t to be today.

“We came here and we gave it our best shot and just came up a bit short. With the amount of people who wrote us off, we came here with the right mindframe and we can be proud of ourselves. Like I said, we just came up short.”

Pride. It was a word used by O’Connor and Jamie Heaslip minutes earlier and, for all the regrets, there were no recriminations.

There was at least some satisfaction in proving their bona fides again at this elevated level after three years away and so many poor performances of late in the PRO12.

“We’d always had a positive mindset coming into this match,” said Isaac Boss. “It was other people writing us off and it played into our hands a little bit.

“We played the first-half pretty smart. There were one or two errors that let them back into it; not too much they did, but our errors let them back in, but it was a close fought encounter.

“It would have been a lot better if we’d won. It was a weird old match the way it went. It was tough conditions in the first-half, but we played it well. We had them doubting themselves and under pressure.

“There were times during the second-half we could have had them under a lot more pressure and they could have folded, but they managed to stick in there.”