All-Ireland Senior Cup final: John O'Sullivantalks to Belfast Harlequins captain Colin Atkinson ahead of Saturday's final against Garryowen in Athlone
Belfast Harlequins will face an anxious 24 hours ahead of Saturday's AIB All-Ireland Senior Cup final at Dubarry Park. The cause of their concern will be the logistics involved in trying to expedite the journey of centre Darren Cave and wing Paul McKenzie from Netherdale in Scotland to Athlone.
The aforementioned duo have been named by Ulster coach Mark McCall among the replacements for Friday night's Magners Celtic League game against the Borders.
Harlequins are hoping that, not alone they get minimal if any game time, but also that they can whisk them to Athlone by 4pm on Saturday so that they can line out for the Belfast club in their cup final against Garryowen.
Cave, a member of the Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam-winning team this season, and McKenzie, who played in the 2003 under-21 World Cup final against New Zealand, offer so much quality their absence would be a body blow to Harlequins. The club won't know until close to the day whether they'll be able to call upon the players.
It's been a curious season for the Belfast club, losing nine consecutive Division One matches before recording a first victory on January 20th. Since then they have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions and on Saturday week should stave off relegation in their final league game.
It's been a remarkable transformation and one facilitated by the arrival of former Ulster coach Alan Solomons as director of rugby, although there were other factors, as captain and openside flanker Colin Atkinson explained: "His (Solomons) direction has helped. There were three or four key players in the pack who were missing early on. I was missing, dislocated my shoulder in the first game of the season; John Andress and Lewis Stevenson were also absent.
"They are two big players in the pack for us and they came back in around Christmas time. The combination of their return, Andy Ward back playing again and Alan's direction saw our season come together for us."
One young player who has impressed is outhalf Niall O'Connor, who got some game time from the bench during Ireland's Under-20 Six Nations campaign. Atkinson enthused: "I have been very impressed with Niall, coming into a Division One team from school. It took him a couple of months to get used to the levels, to get used to massive forwards running at him as opposed to young schoolboys. He's developed hugely over the season and is now kicking brilliantly and controlling the game very well."
He is the team's top scorer with 112 points.
The Harlequins captain relishes the prospect of Saturday's game, something of a welcome reward during a period when the club have fought for survival in the league. "I feel very confident as the last few weeks every game has been like a cup final, a must-win game for us.
"The fact that this is the cup we feel the pressure isn't as great as it will be the following week. Hopefully, it will be the same for both teams and we can go out and play some less pressurised running rugby and make the game more entertaining. You can never underestimate a Munster team. We are going to have to best them up front. That's going to be the key on Saturday, getting parity or even an edge. Our backs can provide spark behind."
It would be nice to have a full complement of the latter come Saturday.
