Home defeat to St Mary’s College in game eight of the Ulster Bank League

St Mary's College brought Young Munster's five-match winning run to a close last weekend at Tom Clifford Park as they moved to the top of Ulster Bank League Division 1A. We started well but St Mary’s were first to put points on the board five minutes in when Gavin Dunne slotted over a penalty conceded on our 22 just left of the posts. Five minutes later Staunton, the division’s top points scorer, leveled the scores, but home fans were concerned moments later when form winger Darragh O’Neill had to be replaced by Aaron Carroll following injury. We were ahead 6-3 after 15 minutes and were displaying strength in the lineouts as Darren Gallagher dominated in the air, but the yellow card handed out by referee Alain Rolland to Ger Slattery 22mins in proved detrimental. Slattery was not back 10 for a quick tap and go by Mary’s in the red zone and Alain Rolland sent him to the sin bin to see out the end of the first half. Mary’s leveled on the penalty from that offense, and minutes later got in for their first try opening up our defense and exposing gaps in our line that we have rarely seen this season. The first half finished 6-13 to the visitors.
Any hopes for a dominant second half on our part were quickly quashed as the second half saw St Mary’s scrum-half Matt D’Arcy get in for his second try just minutes in. They crossed our line again three minutes later, and try number four came midway in the second half. The score was now 6-30, the home crowd was incredulous but resigned to the fact that this was not our day, and the better team on the pitch was showing their quality. With maximum points secured on the part of St Mary's, the final quarter was all Young Munster as we tried to reclaim some pride in the performance. It was third time lucky for Aaron Carroll in the corner as Alain Rolland confirmed his try after repeat efforts to get in down his wing. We were all happy to see this game brought to a close but it is certainly not the way Mike Prendergast and John Broderick would have envisaged opening up our campaign for 2012. Now the test is whether we have the mettle to bounce back from this defeat by finding our winning 2011 form next Saturday, away to Dolphin.

Final score: Young Munster 11 – 36 St Mary’s College

Young Munster team:
Matthew Costelloe, Mark Doyle, Mike Kelliher, Andrew Burke, Darragh O’Neill, Willie Staunton, Mike Prendergast; Hugh McGrath, Ger Slattery, Alan Cotter,
Darren Gallagher, Shane O’Neill (Capt.), Liam Og Murphy, James O’Neill, Neville Melbourne. Replacements (all used): Ger Bourke, Ger Flaherty, Sean
Duggan, Brian Haugh, Aaron Carroll.

Young Munster scorers: Try: Aaron Carroll; Pens: Willie Staunton 2

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Kiely Cup win over St Senan’s

The following day in the Kiely Cup, our seconds beat St Senans 21-12 in Shannon. Further details on this game next week.