diff --git a/grails-gradle/plugins/src/main/groovy/org/grails/gradle/plugin/core/GrailsPluginGradlePlugin.groovy b/grails-gradle/plugins/src/main/groovy/org/grails/gradle/plugin/core/GrailsPluginGradlePlugin.groovy
index 8dbd77bc801..a25b9c33afb 100644
--- a/grails-gradle/plugins/src/main/groovy/org/grails/gradle/plugin/core/GrailsPluginGradlePlugin.groovy
+++ b/grails-gradle/plugins/src/main/groovy/org/grails/gradle/plugin/core/GrailsPluginGradlePlugin.groovy
@@ -60,16 +60,13 @@ class GrailsPluginGradlePlugin extends GrailsGradlePlugin {
     void apply(Project project) {
         super.apply(project)
 
-        checkForConfigurationClash(project)
+        project.pluginManager.apply('java-library')
 
+        checkForConfigurationClash(project)
         configureAstSources(project)
-
         configureAssembleTask(project)
-
         configurePluginResources(project)
-
         configureJarTask(project)
-
         configureSourcesJarTask(project)
     }