News

Young Munster 37-3 win in Munster Senior Cup first round

November 7, 2018

The visitors opened the scoring with an early penalty by Sean Og Murphy but a drop goal shortly after by player/coach and the club’s Director of Rugby, Mike Prendergast, brought the scores level. Winger Derry O’Connor was first to cross the try line in the afternoon with a fine score before the break down the left wing. The conversion went wide leaving the half-time score at 8-3 to the home side.

Just after the restart, Craig O’Hanlon got in for a try in front of the clubhouse, and it wasn’t long before O’Hanlon touched down a second time with a great little chip that bounced just right for him to get to it over the line.

With outhalf Willie Staunton now gone (he has moved to Dublin for work), and new signing Gareth Quinn McDonagh still recovering from injury, first Declan Bannon and then Derry O’Connor took on the kicking duties for the afternoon. O’Connor landed O’Hanlon’s second conversion taking the score to 20-3 for Young Munster.

Neville Melbourne added to the try count for the black and amber which O’Connor converted, as did Mark Doyle, and, in the last play of the game, a scrum on the 5m line resulted in a pushover try for the pack which was awarded to Ger Slattery.

The game finished with a 37-3 scoreline and a satisfying result for Mike Prendergast after the previous week’s Charity Cup Final defeat: “We have so many new players this season, but I feel they are really starting to buy into it now. Guys are definitely putting their hands up for positions. We had a slow first half but I felt we were clinical in the second half and finished the game out well.”

Team: D Bannon, C O’Hanlon, M Doyle, L Kunz, D O’Connor, M Prendergast, E Mulcahy; D Cantillon, G Slattery (c), A Cotter, S Duggan, D Gallagher, N Melbourne, L Russell, G Burke. Replacements: M Rowley, D Murphy, M Madden, C Liston, E Carr, S Upton, D Browne.

[*Our Quarter Final fixture in the Munster Senior Cup will be confirmed following the outcome of the Midleton v Shannon game which was postponed last weekend.]