Con left stunned by Munsters

Cork Constitution 16 Young Munster 21

Recently promoted Young Munster travelled to Temple Hill on Saturday with a side ravaged by injuries and propped up by a group of youthful enthusiasts, who at best might have expected to keep the score down. Instead, they came away with the spoils.

The AIB League champions, Cork Constitution, strutted their stuff in the early part of the game, strolled into the lead and threatened to steam-roll the young men from Clifford Park, 10 of whom were under 21.

Yet, 80 minutes later, the visitors were singing and dancing as if they had won the very title itself.

A shocked Cork Constitution coach Brian Walsh stood in the in-goal area trying to make sense of it all and admitted: “We were lucky to get a bonus point. We played well in patches, scored two tries but then stopped working and tried to coast through the game.”

Walsh didn’t mask his disappointment or his annoyance, but paid tribute to the Limerick side.

“You’ve got to give them credit, Munsters appeared to want it more, they worked harder for it, won the skirmishes, won the 50-50 challenges,” he added.

In what might be perceived as aiming a swipe at his charges, he added: “It just shows what can be achieved by having a good attitude, application and work rate. These factors combined got Munsters the result today. That’s what we look for in ourselves but we didn’t have it out there.”

Young Munster coaches Mike Lynch and Mick O’Halloran allowed the team engage in loud celebration. “They’re entitled to it,” said O’Halloran, who lavished praise on the pack for the huge effort they put in throughout the afternoon.

Indeed, Young Munster enjoyed the better of the tussle, particularly after Billy Holland and Frankie Sheahan were forced from the fray with injuries, but throughout this match there was hardly a better performer than Young Munster number eight Mark McHugh, closely followed by second row Ken Hanley.

And if this duo led from the front, the star of the Young Munster show was full back Matt Costelloe, who scored 16 points and created the remaining score before he was forced off with injury late in the game.

His performance drew this comment from O’Halloran: “He might not look the part, but when he gets the ball in his hands then he is capable of creating the unexpected. He had a great game.”

The victory meant much to Lynch, who said: “Coaches sometimes understate things; I’m not going to do that because it was an absolutely brilliant win. We asked them for a big performance and they delivered. Given all the circumstances, of who was and who wasn’t available, this is huge.”

Five minutes in, Holland gave Constitution the lead, and one feared for the visitors. But they clawed their way back with successive penalties from Costelloe in the 15th, 17th and 23rd minutes to establish a 9-5 lead, yielded only when Richard Lane came flying in off his wing to score in the left hand corner for a 10-9 interval lead.

The game turned on a 46th-minute incident when Costelloe saved a certain try with a perfectly-timed interception and he showed a clean pair of heels to score at the other end. He converted the try to push his side into a 16-10 lead.

Lane kicked a penalty for Constitution midway through the half but Costelloe punished them again by creating a second try for centre Ger Carroll, who took advantage of a defensive mix-up. Lane kicked another penalty for the home side, but it wasn’t enough to save the match or the blushes.

Constitution meet St. Mary’s at Templeville Road next week, and Walsh admitted it would be a tough assignment.

“We’ll have to show a huge improvement and be more ruthless if we’re to get something from that one,” he said.

He wasn’t understating the facts.

CORK CONSTITUTION: P Broughan, R Lane , A Horgan, T Gleeson, C Healy, D Lyons, D O’Leary, Tom Ryan, F Sheahan, Tim Ryan, M O’Connell, D Kelly, B Martin, B Holland, B Cuttriss (captain)

Replacements: E Leamy for Martin, S Zebo for Broughan (both 40, inj), L Gabriel for Sheahan (50, inj), P O’Mahony for Holland (52, inj)

YOUNG MUNSTER: M Costelloe, S Carey, G Carroll, C Clohessy, D Corcoran (captain), D Upton, M Prendergast, D Hogan, G Slattery, A Cotter, K Hanley, D Payne, J Griffin, S Hassett, M McHugh

Replacements: K Gallagher for Griffin (50), M Mulvaney for Costelloe (72, injured)

Referee: D Wilkinson (IRFU)