Striking parallels between Leinster Rugby and Dublin GAA

They say in politics that a week is a long time, and oftentimes the same can be the case in sport too. Just look at the quick six-day turnaround imposed on the powers that be at Croke Park, who were busy all last week preparing the ground for a sell-out rugby fixture after the less-than-appealing Leinster football semi-finals the previous Sunday.

Saturday’s meeting of Leinster and Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup semi-finals brought rugby back to Jones’ Road for the first time in 14 years, the last game there being Ireland’s utterly forgettable defeat to Scotland in the 2010 Six Nations. Dan Parks, who had a two-year stint with Connacht, played a central role on a memorable day for the visitors.

That 14-year period has coincided with a transformational period in Irish rugby, on several fronts. It offers a chance to pause and reflect ahead of the prospect of more rugby matches at Croke Park in the not-too-distant future with Leinster likely to seek out the venue on a couple of occasions as the RDS undergoes some improvement works.

What has changed in the time since rugby’s last visit to GAA HQ?

For a start, it evokes memories of the meeting of Leinster and Munster in Croke Park in 2009, which was a blockbuster sell-out in the European semi-final. Having won the competition the year previously – adding to their breakthrough success in 2006 – Munster were the team to beat but Leinster came and conquered the holders with a dominant performance, winning by 25 points to six.

It was a game of many iconic moments, chief among them a young Jonathan Sexton screaming into the face of Ronan O’Gara after one of the Leinster tries. Brian O'Driscoll scampering away from O'Gara to score the game-clinching try was another.

Sexton’s emergence around that time helped kickstart a golden period for both Leinster and Ireland. Brian O’Driscoll was the marquee figure of his era and continued to be up until his retirement in 2014 but it’s hard to argue against the theory that Sexton has been the single most influential player in Irish rugby over the last 15 years.

The out-half delivered consistently for province and country, but more pointedly it’s the way his teammates spoke about him that illustrated just how big a role he played in upholding and maintaining standards within the dressing room.

Along with the emergence of real talent, Leinster certainly got their act together in that period and have become, by some distance, the dominant force in Irish rugby. It’s a far cry from the early noughties, when, as Gordon Darcy put it in his Irish Times column last week, Leinster lacked what he said was ‘the cohesion and the mental toughness to handle the unique pressure of knockout rugby’. Sexton’s arrival helped change that at the turn of the decade.

Indeed, the clash of Munster and Leinster to Croke Park in 2009 was a turning point in many respects. On his retirement as Leinster CEO in 2022, Mick Dawson observed in the Irish Times that that game showed Leinster had ‘grown up, on and off the pitch’ after a humbling against the same opposition in the 2006 semi-final.

Leinster returned to GAA HQ last weekend as favourites for this season’s Champions Cup having contested the last two finals and collected other titles in 2011, 2012 and 2018. Munster’s fortunes have waned, most especially since their last European semi-final appearance in 2019.

Closer to home, Connacht’s lot has arguably improved the most out of any of the Irish provinces. Over that time, there has been bundles of steady progress made out west, the highlight of which remains the Pro12 breakthrough of 2016. Ulster have flattered to deceive, and are reportedly under significant financial pressure. The recent departure of head coach Dan McFarland points to a period of flux at the Kingspan Stadium in the short term.

In the GAA, Croke Park is synonymous with one team over the last number of years: the Dublin footballers. Every year, the frequency with which they play at the venue generates debate, frustration and anger among certain sectors of the GAA family. Whatever your opinion on their presence on the hallowed turf at regular intervals, it's interesting to chart the progress of Dublin and Leinster over the same period of time.

The parallels are striking. Leinster's breakthrough for the big prize – the Champions Cup – came in 2009. Dublin finally got a hold of Sam Maguire in 2011. The Dubs have been more dominant than Leinster, with seven All-Irelands since then. Leinster have managed three European Cups on top of the first one, but they're still chasing that fifth star.

Off the field, both are slick commercial entities. The Dublin footballers have been able to attract huge sponsorship and, to their credit, have got their affairs in order in terms of coaching and games development. This has been aided by GAA support, too.

Leinster too got their affairs in order to the extent that the RDS regularly attracts big crowds and the Aviva Stadium too. Their academy is the envy of most other clubs in the world, consistently churning out top talent. They’re now also benefiting, significantly, from the IRFU’s central contracts policy with 10 players set to benefit from those deals in next season’s squad.

For context, reports suggest there are going to be just three other players afforded such deals from the other three provinces, those players being Tadhg Beirne (Munster), Bundee Aki (Connacht) and Iain Henderson (Ulster).

One way in which the province and the county may differ, is their impact on the wider game. Such is Dublin's Leinster dominance that interest in the competition has dwindled to the point that only 21,000 souls entered Croke Park for the recent semi-final double header. Leinster attracted four-times that crowd last Saturday. Perhaps there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Other provinces have become wary of Leinster's dominance. Some of that is perhaps misplaced, and one has to credit Leinster with the progress they've made, but the recent acquisition of RG Snyman from rivals Munster for next season is a reflection of their negotiating power when it comes to financial clout. Ronan O'Gara, writing in the Irish Examiner, described it as ‘the biggest kick in the bollocks for a province since the game went professional in this country.’ The same can be said of the impending arrival of All Black star Jordie Barrett later this year.

The other provinces may argue they’re not being given a fair crack of the whip – and if Leinster’s dominance continues those cries are only likely to grow louder.