In a game of two halves, we asked Marty how he and the squad were feeling after a game that played out right until the final whistle:
“Relieved is the overwhelming feeling. As good as Munster were at times, we made it difficult on ourselves with the penalty count, and giving away field position at crucial times.
“We’ll be pretty critical of ourselves when we get back together, but we have to take it for what it is. We haven’t won down here in a very long time. That was the goal, and we achieved it.”
“It wasn’t as efficient as we would have liked it to be, so I think relief is the overwhelming emotion after a mixed bag of performance. But it was good enough to get the job done, and get that monkey off our back.”
Securing their first win at Thomond Park since 2014, the win was made even more impressive given the challenges faced by Ulster following a South African trip which saw the second game of the tour postponed due to illness.
With a short turnaround, Marty pays credit to the coaches and players for being able to rally around ahead of the recent Round 7 fixture:
“The fact that we regrouped, and got ourselves as healthy as possible, and put in a performance after some tumultuous weeks on the road is impressive. For me, I wasn’t available for the first game in South Africa, so for the second game to be postponed was annoying. But I’m happy to be able to get the run out against Munster.”
Looking to the future, with five wins out of six secured in the United Rugby Championship so far, Marty knows that many challenges still lie ahead:
“We’ve got Zebre at home, then away to Leinster, before we’re into two hugely tough European games. A night at Thomond is good to show us where we are at ahead of that. We make it tough on ourselves when teams like Munster start to get back into the game, and grab at it. The accuracy is what we need to focus on.”
And with 80 mins under his belt against an Interpro rival, we asked Marty if this gave him confidence ahead of his involvement with the Ireland set-up this week:
“I’m happy to have had the chance to play the 80 minutes. I’ve had a pretty messy period coming in and out with knocks, so I’ll take as many minutes as are available, and I’m looking forward to giving it another crack next week.
“I didn’t expect to be in an Irish squad, if I’m honest. The opportunity to play rugby as close to top level is something special – whether it’s a game like tonight, European rugby, or an ‘A’ game like the end of this week, which is as close as it comes to test match rugby, is something I’ll grab with both hands – and hopefully get a good hit out on Friday.
All the best to Marty for the upcoming Ireland ‘A’ fixture versus the All Blacks XV – we’ve no doubt he’ll do Ulster proud!