It was a historic weekend for Connacht as they claimed a Pro 12 victory over Leinster in Edinburgh.
Thousands of fans made the jaunt by plane, train and automobile, to watch scintillating play from Lam's side on the biggest stage, with one of the tries of the year coming from Niyi Adeolokun in the process.
While the entire playing panel of 46 people made the trip over to watch the showpiece final, there were a number of academy players who had been training with the team over the past few months who were told that, due to financial constraints, it would not be possible to bring them along too.
Like many of the fans back in the province, Ciarán Gaffney, Cormac Brennan, Saba Meunargia and Rory Moloney faced the possibility of staying at home to watch the game...until the senior squad stepped in to lend a hand.
Speaking after the victory, John Muldoon revealed that a number of the first team squad had banded together and had a whip around so that they would be able to bring the four players with them.
"We had four players this year that trained with us, didn’t get any game time. One of the lads [Cormac Brennan] was on the bench for the Ulster game and for various reasons they had to cut the line somewhere, and they decided not to bring four of the lads that hadn’t played.
That was obviously the management’s perspective; 46 lads is a lot to bring. But the lads got together and chipped in and brought the other four lads, and that shows what the team is about."
Muldoon added that they were adamant that they had to do something for the players, because they were "inside in the dressing room and they deserve to be here as much as anybody else, and that shows the togetherness and what it means to everyone."
Via Independent.ie
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