Furlong’s name is down in history as he makes 150th cap for Leinster

Three Wexford men shone on a massive weekend of European Cup rugby with Enniscorthy and Gorey men Josh Murphy and Paul Boyle starring for Connacht off the bench against a star strung Lyon outfit in the Sportsground by the Atlantic shores of Galway, while Campile hero Tadgh Furlong on the French Atlantic coast was making an epic 150th cap for Leinster in a bruising encounter in the bear pit that is the Stade Marcel-Deflandre…

Over in Galway, Enniscorthy hard man Josh Murphy was introduced at half time to add some power to the engine room and was not too long showing it off.

Within one minute of coming on, he had scored his first ever Connacht try.

The Enniscorthy man was originally located to the right of a ruck, 5 metres out from the try line. He quickly realised there wasn’t a sinner defending the short side for Lyon and changed his running angle coming diagonally against the grain to receive a nice pass from the in-form Ben Murphy to charge towards the left and he ran in relatively easily. Despite a last gasp awkward tackle to briefly winded him, Josh barrelled through it to dot down in the corner to a scene of joyous celebrations.

Murphy was gallantly defending heafty Lyon mauls in the middle of the second half to no avail unfortunately against a bigger pack.

However, Josh was putting in a brilliant shift with hard-hitting tackles, aggressive attacks with ball in had, fantastic line-out play and creating a really solid ballast at scrum time crucial to Connacht attacks.

The Enniscorthy man set up a lovely line-out maul after a fabulous fetch to set Dylan Tierney-Martin over for a try.

Paul Boyle entered the party at 59 minutes and was his energetic self around the Sportsground turf with some lovely carries and solid tackles.

In a really emotional afternoon on Sunday over in La Rochelle, Tadgh Furlong entered Leinster folklore as a living legend proudly earning his 150th cap for the Province, a remarkable achievement for the New Ross man.

It was not a fixture you wanted to be put into on your grand return after a very length lay off from injury but the experience of the 32 year old and 78 time capped Irish international shone through at a match most needed.

This was not the sole emotion going through Tadgh’s head though; the Campile man had only just welcomed his baby daughter into the World, which marked a fantastic few days for this young man and his family.

Furlong’s match had got to be hard with his recent injury worrying him. His huge day with his 150th caps for Leinster and his daughter, yet he done a serious job for Leinster under intense pressure on his first match in ages.

Tadgh had the scrum relatively solid for his match and whilst on, there was only one scrum penalty conceded. At Lineout time the Campile man was firing his men into the air to consolidate possession. He was putting his body on the line in a Gladiatorial style attritional battle royale making magnificent tackles. He had time for some nice carries up the middle too.

Unbelievably, Furlong made it to the 47th minute knowing he had given everything for his team in what was to become a crucial away victory in what has now become Europe’s most heat and intense rugby club rivalry.

He was given a mighty roar of support and congratulations by both Leinster supporters in the stands and substitutes on the bench as he came off after an heroic performance.

Well done to our amazing Wexford men on amazing performances for the Green westerners of Connacht and the Blue of Leinster.