Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

Every sports fairy tale needs a spark; a moment you can definitely look back on and say that’s when it took off. Emmet Moloney is waiting for Connacht’s...

Every fan and player knows the day their team tasted real success; the day it all fell together. This current Kilkenny dynasty, built by Brian Cody, can point to a number of moments but the first minutes of the 2002 All-Ireland final stand out.

There was pressure on the Cats to deliver and a lot of nonsense being talked by people doubting DJ’s ability to deliver in All-Ireland finals. DJ snuck in for a crucial goal that gave the Cats a lead they would never lose. The greatest team of all time were on the road.

Wexford’s famous win of 1996 is often recalled by players and mentors alike as a journey that really got started when Liam Griffin stopped the team bus on the way to the Leinster final, took everyone off it and told them the next time they crossed back into the county, they would be Leinster champions. It worked. Well, when you win it works!

The real coming together usually takes place on one of these famous “bonding weekends”. Perhaps they are now a casualty of the Celtic Tiger but the stories that emanated from these breaks are legendary. The schedule is pretty straightforward: train hard, party hard – and then be up for training again the next morning.

Some of the successful northern football teams of recent years famously went for warm-weather training to Spain or Portugal for a week and reputedly never touched a drop. Most managers, however, like their teams to have one real “session” when they’re away. They like to see who comes out of the shadows, who can sing, who can lead and who can still get up in the morning. There is an element of character involved and dressing room code applies; they are all in it together.

I bring this up because this week one or two teams will be on such valuable time away together. The Dublin hurlers will probably follow the schedule outlined above and it could be the making of them because they are now on the cusp.

This weekend could also be the making of the Connacht rugby team, but I doubt they are going further than Salthill to enjoy it.

Let me explain. Munster travel to Brive, possibly their biggest hurdle on the way to winning the Amlin Challenge Cup, while Leinster have the formidable Leinster in the Aviva in the Heineken Cup. Should both Irish provinces win, both are guaranteed home semi-finals and both become the hottest of favourites to win their trophies. If just one of them wins the trophy (or if Ulster manage the unlikely same), then Connacht are automatically qualified for next year’s Heineken Cup.

This is a little added interest to Munster’s secondary European journey that has passed most rugby people by. Ironically, Munster’s inability to get out of their Heineken Cup pool saw them land into the Amlin Challenge Cup at the quarter-final stage. A draw away to Brive is more than manageable and a home semi-final awaits the winners.

Now, we all know that Munster believe they belong in the senior competition, not the junior one, and if they take this one seriously enough, they are strong favourites to win it. Do that and Connacht go into the main Heineken Cup draw next autumn – the gift they have been praying for since that competition took off in the late ’90s.

This has the potential to be a good news story, not just in rugby, but in the West of Ireland. Connacht have been deserving of a decent break for years now and this could be their ticket. Typical of their status in Irish rugby, they will have to rely on Munster or Leinster to provide it!

But it doesn’t matter how you get there, it’s what you do when you get there. Next year’s Heineken Cup is a strange one, starting within three weeks of the end of the World Cup and putting all the big teams under immediate pressure because their key men will be playing rugby all summer. Not so for Connacht. As soon as any of their players show that level of ability, they are considered “mature enough” to move to Munster or Leinster. At the end of his season, Connacht lose their hooker Sean Cronin to Leinster because he is international quality. Off to New Zealand he will go.

We’ll all be glued to that World Cup but sitting at home, squad intact, will be Eric Elwood and Connacht. What an advantage to have going into the first three rounds of the Heineken Cup. A full squad itching to finally play Heineken Cup rugby in Galway, before big crowds, decent TV audiences and fire in their bellies.

That’s what will be on Eric Elwood’s mind this weekend and, more than likely, Munster, by virtue of failing to get out of their Heineken group, can realise the dream for Connacht.
Rugby can be funny sometimes. All Connacht need is this chance. No matter who comes to Galway, they have to fight to beat the home side. Just imagine the occasion if a star-studded Toulouse, Leicester or Ospreys came to town. This is how the Munster bandwagon started.

What a lift for the West if Connacht could go down the same route. It’s not impossible – more exposure could mean more money and more investment in the province, something it is crying out for. The West would wake and that’s badly needed too – a lift for the locals, a new underdog to shout for.

So Connacht people will sit and watch this weekend, knowing that this is probably the most important week in their short professional history. Both Munster and Leinster have real chances of winning the two European trophies and the quarter-finals hold the key. Two potentially tough but eminently winnable games.

Munster have the slightly easier task, if they are in the mood. Leicester are the one English team that doesn’t travel with frailties on display.

They will give plenty of it and, to beat them, Leo Cullen and his merry men will need to ante up. But that’s what Leinster have specialised in these past few years – delivering when it’s been needed most.

And this weekend, it is Connacht that need it.
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