 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2008–09 Heineken Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 23 May 2009 | ||||||
| Venue | Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Rocky Elsom (Leinster) | ||||||
| Referee | Nigel Owens (Wales) | ||||||
| Attendance | 66,523 | ||||||
The 2009 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup, the 14th season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh; this was the second time that the Heineken Cup final had been held at Murrayfield after the 2005 final, when Toulouse beat Stade Français 18–12 after extra time.
The match was contested by Leicester Tigers of England and Leinster of Ireland. While Leinster were making their first appearance in the Heineken Cup final, Leicester were playing in their fifth, having won the competition twice, though not since 2002; they did, however, finish as runners-up in 2007.
Leinster won the match 19–16; Leinster took the lead via an early drop goal from Brian O'Driscoll, only for Julien Dupuy to equalise with a penalty a couple of minutes later. Leinster then moved 9–3 ahead with a drop goal from the halfway line and a penalty from Johnny Sexton. However, after Stan Wright was sin-binned on the half-hour mark for an off-the-ball challenge on Sam Vesty, Leicester reduced the deficit to three points with another Dupuy penalty, before taking a 13–9 half-time lead via a converted try from Ben Woods. Dupuy increased Leicester's lead to seven points with a third penalty goal just after the interval, but a converted try from Jamie Heaslip brought the teams level with half an hour left to play. Then, with ten minutes left on the clock, Sexton squeezed a penalty inside the right-hand upright to win the match for Leinster.