Munsters take time to find their rhythm

THERE were mixed emotions for former Young Munster stalwart Paul O’Connell in Clifford Park yesterday as his home club overcame neighbours Old Crescent in this Limerick AIL Division Two derby.

Having captained Munster to a bonus-point win over Cardiff Blues the previous evening in the European Heineken Cup, the second-row was back to his roots, but can’t have been overly impressed by what he saw.

Still, Munster got the win, and the four points gained sees them leap-frog Old Crescent, both now in mid-table on 17 points, Munster ahead on points difference.

In steady rain, a cold afternoon, enjoying the fruits of a dominant scrum, Old Crescent looked the sharper outfit in the opening half but struggled to capitalise. Still, a 22m penalty on the right side, perfect for left-footed kicker Alan Purcell, looked set to put them into a deserved 6-3 lead in the 36th minute (full-back Mark Connolly had opened the scoring for Munster in the 19th minute, Purcell replying for Crescent).

Purcell missed, pulled his kick, Young Munster immediately went for the quick tap on the 22; they were called back by referee Dudley Phillips, which should have alerted Crescent to what was planned, but no. Inside centre Aidan McNulty went again, shifted to Derek Corcoran on his outside, and off Young Munster went, the length of the park. McNulty was on hand to finish under the posts, leaving Connolly with a simple conversion.

“We’re the architects of our own downfall, no question about it,” declared frustrated Old Crescent coach Mark Ring. “This was a massive game for street-credibility, it’s what rugby is all about. These derbies are fantastic fixtures that really get the adrenaline going. We’ve come off second-best, deservedly so, and hats off to Young Munster, but given our forward power, our dominance in the early period, we should have done better.”

That soft try concession left Old Crescent trailing at the break 10-3. What followed shortly after the resumption was even worse. In a great position on the Young Munster 22, Old Crescent were suddenly reduced to 14 men when scrum-half Darragh Ryan was red-carded for what seemed a stamping offence.

Five minutes later they were down to 13, team captain Brendan Guilfoyle yellow-carded after taking out Young Munster second-row and captain David Payne in a line-out.

From there it was one-way traffic, and two second half tries from left-winger Darren Classens made it safe for Munster.

“The first 20 minutes Crescent were excellent, could have done us serious damage on several occasions,” said a relieved Tony Grant, Young Munster coach.

Grant added: “But we survived, got away with it. After that we defended very well, I felt the turning point was just before half-time when we held them out on our own line and eventually turned them over. We grew from that and really improved in the second half. The last 15 minutes we got into our rhythm, we’ve been lacking a bit of confidence over the last five or six weeks but we got a lot back today, and I’m quite happy with that.”

YOUNG MUNSTER: M. Connolly (1P 2C); S. Carey, D. Corcoran, A. McNulty, D. Classens; M. Lynch, T. Cronin; G. Flaherty, D. Sheehan, A. Cotter; S. O’Neill, D. Payne (c); E. Ryan, M. Shorley, K. Horan.

Replacements: J. Slattery (Sheehan inj. 40+1); E. O’Byrne (Cronin 80+1).

OLD CRESCENT: L. Burke; E. Dalton, N. O’Brien, L. Viapula, D. Wildash; A. Purcell, D. Ryan; PJ McLoughlin, I. Guilfoyle, J. Cullinane; M. McNamara, S. Brennan; M. Ryan, P. Glamazina, B. Guilfoyle (c).

Replacements: J. Padden (McNamara 50); M. Cahill (Cullinane 62); B. Farrell (I. Guilfoyle 65); P. Flynn (Purcell 70); M. O’Connell (Dalton 73).

Referee: D. Phillips (Leinster). Good job.