Ulster's John Cooney: Connacht defeat 'bugged me for months'

There'll be few more motivated players than John Cooney when Ulster take on Connacht at the Kingspan Stadium this evening (7.35pm).

The BKT United Rugby Championship round eight clash comes just over six months since the Westerners ended Ulster’s season with a stunning and deserved 15-10 win at the quarter-final stage.

And former Connacht scrum-half Cooney has been stewing over the result since then and admitted that it took him a full three months to get the pain of defeat out of his system.

Having missed out on the return fixture earlier this season, which Connacht edged 22-20, the 33-year-old can’t wait to take on his former club.

"This game means more to us because of what they did in the quarter-final," he said.

"It's the most disappointing result I've ever had for Ulster.

"It bugged me for about three months in the summer, until the point to where I couldn't wait to get back.

"I missed the last game against them in Galway, from playing with them it's always a proper game.

"They like to push me, they like to talk to me, and call me all sorts of stuff...Bundee Aki in particular, so I look forward to these games."

While Pete Wilkins’ side come into the game on the back of four straight losses, the hosts are on an upward curve after last weekend’s impressive 31-15 win over Top14 leaders Racing 92 in the Champions Cup.

Cooney, capped 11 times by Ireland, admitted it was one of his most enjoyable games. He kicked four conversions (above) and a penalty and got a charge down on a Racing conversion attempt.

"I think last week I led more, sometimes I try to concentrate on myself but I tried to bring people along with me collectively," he said.

"I tried to pull people with me and I tried to get people going.

"At half time we came out