in the 2008 Heineken Cup Final, with O'Gara scoring 11 points. O'Gara scored a penalty with three minutes left to beat Montauban in the first game of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup and the first Heineken Cup game in the new Thomond Park. On 13 December 2008, O'Gara became the first player to score 1,000 points in the Heineken Cup, when he scored a last minute conversion against Clermont. On 16 May 2010, O'Gara was awarded the ERC European Player Award, crediting him as the player who had made the greatest contribution to European Rugby during the first 15 years of the Heineken Cup. The selection panel consisted of Sir Ian McGeechan, Lawrence Dallaglio, Ieuan Evans, Fabien Galthié, Donal Lenihan, Michael Lynagh, Stuart Barnes, Stephen Jones and Jacques Verdier. O'Gara crossed the 2,000-point mark for Munster against Ospreys in a Celtic League game on 18 September 2010. In November 2010, he extended his contract with Munster and the IRFU until 2013. He became the fourth Munster player to win 200 caps in a Celtic League game against Ospreys on 23 April 2011. In May 2011, O'Gara was part of the Munster team that beat arch-rivals and newly crowned Heineken Cup champions Leinster 19–9 in the 2011 Magners League Grand Final at Thomond Park. On 12 November 2011, O'Gara scored an 84th minute drop-goal after 41 phases of play to secure victory for Munster in their opening 2011–12 Heineken Cup Pool One game against Northampton Saints. A week later, in Munster's second Pool One game away to Castres Olympique, O'Gara again scored a match-winning drop-goal, this time in the 81st minute. On 10 December 2011, O'Gara became only the second player, the first being his Munster colleague John Hayes, to win 100 caps in the Heineken Cup. He achieved the feat in Munster's third pool game, away to Scarlets, which Munster won 14–17, with O'Gara contributing 12 points with his boot. The following week, O'Gara scored 14 points in the home tie against Scarlets, helping Munster to a 19–13 victory. He became the most capped Heineken Cup player ever on 14 January 2012, when Munster played Castres in Round 5 of the 2011–12 Heineken Cup, scoring 16 points along the way in a 26–10 win for Munster. In Munster's final pool game against Northampton Saints, O'Gara scored 24 points as Munster won 51–36. O'Gara announced in March 2012 that he planned to