Brian O'Driscoll admitted he had fulfilled a career ambition by lifting the Heineken Cup with Leinster.
Ireland centre admits victory is worth the wait
Brian O'Driscoll admitted he had fulfilled a career ambition by lifting the Heineken Cup with Leinster.
The Magners League side overcame two-time champions Leicester 19-16 in a thrilling final at Murrayfield, the Ireland centre getting on the scoresheet with the opening drop goal of the game.
O'Driscoll said that after a decade with the Blues he was proud to finally be crowned the best in Europe after flattering to deceive over the years.
"I just felt we had great resilience; we backed our defence all year," O'Driscoll told
Sky Sports. "We've been poor in attack at times but got it together over the last couple of months.
"It feels great. I've played for this team for 10 years and loved every minute of playing for them and it was worth the wait. This was a goal at the start of my career and I couldn't have done it with a better bunch of guys."
O'Driscoll appeared to have suffered a shoulder injury in the second half but reassured Lions coach Ian McGeechan that he will be fit for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
"I've been carrying it for a while," he added. "I'll be in a little bit of cotton wool for a while but then it'll be sorted."
Optimistic
His optimistic prognosis was backed up by Leinster head coach Michael Cheika, who said: "He knows how to manage himself well and he knew that he just needed a few minutes on the sideline there.
"There was no way he was coming off in that game, I can assure you of that."
Of his side's second-half performance, Cheika added: "I just think we believed in ourselves to come back.
"We played quite well, I thought, in the first part of the game.
"When we went behind, we just started dropping off a few tackles in close.
"It got to seven behind and they started cranking up their machine, they started counter-rucking us, they were taking it hard at the line and really started to try and dominate us.
"We were able to stay in there and come back."
Skipper Leo Cullen was pleased that his side came through on the big occasion after failing to deliver in recent seasons.
"It's been some pretty tough times over the last couple of years," he said. "We've had some disappointing days.
"When you've had a bit of hurt in the past, when you get the win it makes it that little bit sweeter.
"The boys showed great spirit coming back into it. It was a great win. We've always been a bit disappointing on the big day.
"It wasn't pretty at times but that's finals I suppose."
No excuses
Despite the game coming a week after the Tigers' gruelling Guinness Premiership win over London Irish, boss Richard Cockerill refused to make excuses.
He said: "We're disappointed that we lost, obviously, but it was a tight game and there was three points difference.
"We couldn't have given any more, could we? The boys played their hearts out.
"It's been a tough run-in for us.
"No complaints. You accept winning; you have to accept losing.
"Of course, we want to win. I'm not a great loser but you have to be dignified in defeat and that's us."
He added: "We should be very pleased and proud of our season, because we're English champions, we've lost by three points in the Heineken final.
"It could have gone either way. They have to take the credit for winning it, because they've won it.
"We were fresh, we were into the game - I'm not going to use that as an excuse."
