Leinster captain Caelan Doris: Croke Park 'an iconic stadium for Irish culture'

Caelan Doris says Leinster feel very fortunate to get a chance to play in the "iconic" Croke Park.

The number 8 captains the side in the absence of injured James Ryan and Garry Ringrose as Leinster attempt to reach their third final in a row when they take on Northampton Saints tomorrow (5.30pm, live on RTÉ).

A place in the Investec Champions Cup decider against either Toulouse or Harlequins, who meet on Sunday, is up for grabs for the winners.

The Mayo native said: "I have been in the stands plenty of times for some good days as well as plenty of bad ones.

"It's class, it is an iconic stadium for Irish culture.

"We feel very fortunate as a group to have a crack there tomorrow.

"We have Declan Darcy [Leinster performance coach, former Leitrim and Dublin footballer, below] in with us, who has been with us for the last couple of years.

"His message to us was [Croke Park] magnifies your performance, whether it is a good one or a bad one.

"Our plan, our prep over the last two weeks has been about getting our best performance and hopefully that will get the crowd involved, build an atmosphere and make it a special days for us.

"It’s been a good couple of weeks prep and we are excited for tomorrow."

Earlier, Leo Cullen named his team with Ringrose (shoulder) and Hugo Keenan (hip) both missing out.

"Garry, he was making good progress at the start of the week and he's not quite right," said the head coach.

"Similarly, Hugo was never really going to be right this week.

"Garry's probably the one that we thought [could be fit], but he's going to be a little bit longer."

Utility back Jimmy O’Brien, however, has recovered from a neck injury and is named among the replacements.

Cullen (above) captained Leinster on the only previous occasion the side