Cooney fired up to face native province

John Cooney can’t have imagined the roundabout route he’d travel to get back within touching distance of Europe’s highest reaches when he came on as a replacement for Leinster against Ulster with six minutes to go in the 2012 Heineken Cup final.

Two changes of club — from Leinster to Connacht to Ulster — three shoulder surgeries, and much soul-searching later, he finds himself as one of five Leinster men travelling south from Belfast to take down their native province.