Young Munster back on track in AIL

ONE win from their last three Ulster Bank AIL division one A fixtures may

not be the form of champions but Saturday’s victory over Blackrock edges

Young Munster into a challenging third position as the leading bunch moves

into contention for the finishing straight.

It was, however, a result that pleased their player/coach Mike Prendergast:

“It’s good to get back to winning ways again. It was a strange kind of a

game, stop and start and a lot of injuries, but we’ll take the win.

Hopefully when we get back on the training ground on Tuesday we can rectify some of the mistakes we made out there. In the first half we should have had a few more scores. In conditions like we had out there and the fact that Blackrock were so committed, the bonus point was always going to be difficult.”

Prendy’s confidence that they can still win the title will be well received

by the black and amber fans: “Absolutely. I’m fully confident that we can.

"There are eight games to go, we have four away and four at home but the next

three fixtures are going to be crucial for us and could mould our season

with Constitution at home this coming week-end, then Shannon away and

Garryowen at home.”

12-3 up after 20 minutes courtesy of three penalties and a drop goal from

Willie Staunton gave ‘Munsters’ the perfect platform in this game but

failure to create try chances gave early indication that the bonus point

could be out of their reach. Leading 6-0 ‘Rock had replied with a penalty on

13 minutes when a cheeky break by scrum-half Alan McGinty out-foxed Mike

Prendergast and Liam Og Murphy to set up the penalty that reduced the home

lead to three points, but that was as close as the visitors got to a

surprise result.

The Young Munster pack, mauling the ball 25 metres during one assault, was

superior at the set-piece but it was a slice of good fortune that gifted the

black and ambers their first try of the game. Referee John Carvill must have

been the only one not to spot a blatant knock-on as Mark Doyle finished off

a midfield move four minutes from the break but the home side had to wait

for their second touchdown until nine minutes from the finish: replacement

back-row Shane Hassett getting over following a fine drive off a lineout by

the pack. Staunton missed both conversions and while Blackrock never gave up

the fight, their penalty, try and conversion all coming from out-half

Darragh Fitzpatrick, the Dublin visitors were well beaten at the finish.

“Darragh Gallagher and Mark Doyle were outstanding today,” said the Young

Munster coach, “and this win will give us renewed confidence.” He could also

have added centre Mike Kelliher as well as the performance of hooker Ger

Slattery, whose absence from representative rugby remains a mystery.

Young Munster: Aaron Carroll; Craig O’Hanlon, Andrew Burke, Mike Kelliher,

Mark Doyle; Willie Staunton, Mike Prendergast; Ger Flaherty (Hugh McGrath

51, Flaherty 60), Ger Slattery (Cathal O’Connor 77), Alan Cotter; Darragh

Gallagher, Sean Duggan (Shane O’Neill 55); Liam Og Murphy, James O’Neill

(Shane Hassett 55), Neville Melbourne (James O’Neill 74).

Blackrock College: Andrew Latham; David Rowan (Brett Thompson 69), Jan Simon

Byrne, Rob Keogh, Mark Scott Lennon (Dylan Symonds 60); Darragh Fitzpatrick

(David Boland 78), Alan McGinty; Sean Byrne, Ryan Fisher (Colin Coyle 69),

Arthur Lyons; Peter McCague, Alex Dunlop; Tyrone Moran, Gavin Greene,

Richard Marsh.

Scorers, Young Munster, tries Mark Doyle, Shane Hassett; four penalties,

drop goal Willlie Staunton. Blackrock College, try, conversion, penalty

Darragh Fitzpatrick.

Yellow card, Ger Flaherty, Young Munster.

Referee, John Carvill, IRFU.

Pre-Match Lunch for Cork Con game this Saturday

Young Munster take on Cork Constitution this Saturday in game 11 of the

Ulster Bank League. Why not make a day out of it and come to the PRE-MATCH

LUNCH from 1pm? €25 includes admission, 2-course lunch with wine and match

programme. All are welcome. For bookings contact Brendan Collopy at

086-6062606 or Fergal Deegan 086-2265692.

Young Munster advance in Munster Junior Cup

We advanced to the 5th round of the Munster Junior cup last Sunday, with a

hard earned victory over Cobh Pirates on a scoreline of 27-6.

Cobh started very brightly and went 3 nil up after only 3 minutes with a

fine penalty from their no.10. We came straight back at them and after a

great driving maul by the pack from a line out, the ball was moved out to

the back and Declan Brown took a great line to score under the posts. Brian

Haugh added the extra to leave us 7-3 in front after 11 minutes.

The home side reduced the lead to one point after 18 minutes through

another penalty from their outhalf. From this point on we got on top in the

set piece and after 24 minutes we won a penalty from a scrum on their 10

metre line and Brian Haugh kicked a fine penalty to put us 10-6 ahead. Brian

kick his second penalty just on half time when again our front row of Donal

Murphy, Cathal O'Connor and Hugh McGrath forced a penalty from a scrum. We went into the break leading 13-6.

We started the second half like we finished the first and scored our second

try after 48 minutes when our scrum drove their scrum back over their own

line with our number 8 Jake Considine getting the touch down. Brian Haugh

added the easy two points to extend our lead to 14 points.

We were well on top at this stage and it came as no surprise when we scored

our 3rd try on 65 minutes through Shane O'Leary after great interplay between the forwards and backs. Brian Haugh kicked the conversion to put us 21 points ahead.

Cobh came straight back at us and only for good defence by Declan Bannon,

Owen Tarrant and co, Cobh would certainly have scored a try. We weathered

the Cobh comeback and finished the game strong with the last play inside the

Cobh 22.

A good start to the Junior Cup, with a very good mixture of youth and

experience, with the likes of club captain Shane O' Neill and Darragh Payne

using all of their experience in helping the six players who were starting their first junior cup game.

Final score; Cobh Pirates 6 - 27 Young Munster 27

Have you got your tickets for the Valentine’s Ball?

The Young Munster Valentine’s Ball is taking place on February 11th at the

Greenhills Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick, from 7.30pm. This should be a great

night; all are welcome to join us in this important club fundraiser.

- Drinks reception on arrival with roses for the ladies

- 4 Course Dinner with starter, main, dessert + tea/coffee

- Live band 'Traffic' play on the night followed by dj

- Auction & raffle also taking place

- Professional photographer taking souvenir photos

- 10% discount on dresses in Imasa, O’Connell St. Limerick on mentioning

‘Young Munster Valentine’s Ball’

- Special overnight rate of €79 for 2 (double/twin) in the hotel

Tickets €50pp. available from Edel Hannon 086 0355300, Ann Marie Galvin 086

1599018, Mike Benson 087 9224561 and www.youngmunster.com.

Great success for Young Munster at U9’s blitz

Our U9’s went to Garryowen FC on Sunday morning for a blitz and played some

great rugby in horrendous conditions. We decided to make two teams out of

our squad as we had 19 players in attendance. We called them our Black team and our Amber team.

Our Black team played 3 matches and won all 3 convincingly, scoring a total

of 35 tries and conceding none. A super display of passing, support play and

tackling was put in by all players.

Results:

Young Munster 8 tries - 0 St Senans

Young Munster 12 tries - 0 Garryowen

Young Munster 15 tries - 0 Ennis 0

Our Amber team also played 3 matches and won 2 with 1 draw. We were caught

asleep in our first match against Ennis and were lucky to come away with a

draw. This goes to show the importance of arriving early and getting a

proper warm up done. After this we played fantastic rugby and ran out

convincing winners in our other games. In all we scored 23 tries and

conceded 12. Work will certainly need to be done on tackling over the next

training sessions.

Results:

Young Munster 4 tries - 4 Ennis

Young Munster 9 tries - 4 Garryowen

Young Munster 10 tries - 4 Ennis B

Squad: Cian Casey, Colm Mohally, Donnacha O Callaghan, Liam Kelly, Josh

Crawford, Luke Moloney, Ben Murphy, Cayden Malone, Conor Kerley, Tarkan

Pinarci, Thomas Gillick, Ben Dillon, Sean Farrell, Cillian Higgans, Daniel O

Sullivan, Darragh Long, Scott Sheehan, Callan McCarthy, Mike Galvin.

Underage Fixtures for Sunday 5th Feb:

Under 19s Pan Munster: Nenagh Ormond v Young Munster, Nenagh 12 noon

Under 10s Blitz: Young Munster, St Senans, Newcastle West, Shannon, Venue

Tom Clifford Pk 10.30am

Congratulations to our Under 13s squad who beat Old Crescent last Sunday

Morning to win The Hoare Cup

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