Young Munster favourites come back to haunt them

EIGHT years ago, Aidan O'Halloran, Ger Earls and Niall McNamara played crucial roles when Young Munster captured the All-Ireland League for the only time, after a famous victory over St Mary’s College at Lansdowne Road.

On Saturday, however, the trio proved the chief architects for Thomond as they inflicted a fully deserved 23-15 defeat on their old comrades in front of the biggest AIB League crowd of the season in Limerick.

This may have been a second division match but it captured the imagination of the rugby public and more than 2, 000 turned up to watch an eagerly awaited derby.

Thomond were terrific, Munsters distinctly moderate and quite frankly the result was rarely in doubt. They had nobody to touch Aidan O'Halloran for generalship and craft and could only look on in admiration as the 35 year-old, who once meant so much to their cause, this time put them to the sword with three penalty goals and three dropped goals for a personal contribution of 18 points.

“We had nine fellas in our side to-day who once played for Young Munster and this was an extra special occasion for the club,” said Aidan. And it wasn't only on Saturday that O'Halloran demonstrated what he can do. He dropped a stoppage time goal to pip Dolphin a week earlier and seven day before that again he landed a touchline conversion with the last kick of the match to force a draw with Bective Rangers. This time, he hardly put a foot wrong and produced some delightful touches. Keeping it simple has always been a dictum with Thomond and Aidan O’Halloran and nothing has changed. Their tries by John Cusack (even though marked by his brother Fergal) and the impressive Clem Casey were well taken but came at a stage when the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Scorers: Thomond - Niall McNamara try; Aidan O'Halloran 3 pens., 3 drops. Young Munster - John Cusack, Clem Casey tries, Brian Murphy pen and con.

THOMOND: M. Spiller; F. Cusack, N. McNamara, H. O'Neill, N. Thorne; A. O'Halloran capt, A. Hartery; T. Clifford, M. Long, E. Fraher, M. O'Halloran, D. O'Meara, B. Murray, G. Earls, A. Herlihy. Replacements, J. Sheehan for Murray; D. Guerin for A. O'Halloran.

YOUNG MUNSTER: C. Casey; J. Cusack, J. Pardoe, P. Galvin, C. Doyle; B. Murphy, T. Cronin; N. Hartigan, R. Flanagan, H. McGrath, D. Payne, T. Carroll, D. McNamara, S. McGrath, D. McNamara. Replacements, D. Ryan for Galvin; G. O'Donoghue for Flanagan.

Referee - A. Rowe (Connacht).