Royal impact at Croke Park

THERE was a big Royal County presence at Croke Park on Saturday but for once there wasn"t a Gaelic football in sight as Leinster defeated Munster in what was described as a 'thunderous' Heineken Cup semi-final. Shane Horgan played all 80 minutes, discarding some indifferent form of late to help Michael Cheika"s side to a shock 25-6 win over the reigning champions. Moynalvey"s Devin Toner also came on in the last minute for Leo Cullen, a victim of an alleged eye-gouging offence by Alan Quinlan. On the Munster side Denis Hurley and Neil Ronan both made late appearances as substitutes however, tries from Gordon D"Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald and Brian O"Driscoll went a long way to ensuring the team in blue prevailed in front of 82,203 spectators - a world record for a 'club" rugby game. Toner, who is coming to the end of his second season on a full contract with Leinster, is now hoping that he can nail down a starting place on the team for the final at Murrayfield on 23rd May. Leinster have two Magners League games to play before they confront Leicester at the home of Scottish rugby. Toner said that this time around Leinster learned from past mistakes. 'We learned a lot from our defeats to Munster in previous years. This year we bolstered up the pack, I think we"re a lot better there and we"ve a fantastic backline as well,' he told the Meath Chronicle on Monday evening. 'Before the game Michael Cheika said right, that"s it, our preparations are done, now we have to focus on the job on hand, so go out there and do what we have to do, ignore all the hype. Leinster have two games to play before the Heineken Cup final and I would hope to get a chance in those games.' On the underage club front Navan u-16s won their fourth title of the season when they defeated Naas 12-7 in the McAuley Cup final. The Navan u-13s remained on course for an unprecedented fifth crown when they overcame Gorey 73-0 to win the Leinster Cup final in their age group. Navan can win the u-13 North East League - and a fifth title - on Wednesday when they travel to play Mullingar.