Seventh heaven for Young Munster

YOUNG MUNSTER turned the clock back two decades with a stirring ODM Munster Senior Cup triumph over gallant University College Cork at sunny Musgrave Park on Saturday.

Short of silverware, and so often the bridesmaids in this competition, Young Munster’s legion of loyal fans celebrated this seventh title with gusto at the end of an intense and entertaining match.

The students were right in the contest until the 74th minute when a converted try all but confirmed the victory for the Limerick side; it was a game remarkably similar to the two AIB League games played between the teams this season when Young Munster carved out two narrow victories.

There was much at stake for both clubs, with Munsters seeking their first title since 1990 when, coincidentally, they also beat UCC, and with College desperately trying to reel in all of 29 years since their last title win in 1981.

In terms of endeavour, intent and, for a good percentage of the game, skill, neither team disappointed, but one felt Young Munster had more gas in the tank as the game wore on. It certainly didn’t help when UCC’s playmaker, out-half Andrew Burke, had to retire injured in the third quarter, even if his deputy Ronan O’Sullivan didn’t put a foot wrong.

Ultimately the outcome was decided by a powerful surge of energy from the Young Munster pack after the introduction of Brendan Guilfoyle and James O’Neill but victorious player/coach Mike Prendergast admitted it had been a rough ride: “We had to fight very hard but we expected that; we played them twice this season, won both games but by very narrow margins. They’re a quality team and we knew we would have to perform to come out on the right side of this.

“There has been a tendency to concede early scores but I was happy enough even when we fell behind (7-3) in the early stages. We were annoyed to concede that try because we relied a lot on a well-organised defence all year.

“Things started to look up once our patterns started to come together; happily our pack helped us produce pressure at a crucial stage of the game and we were able to get in behind them. It was also important that Alan Kingsley had his kicking boots on in a tight match such as this,” he said.

His UCC coaching counterpart Conor Twomey admitted to being bitterly disappointed. “Young Munster deserved the win but that’s no consolation because it’s never nice to lose a final. After a very even contest, they seemed to get a stranglehold on us late in the third quarter; I couldn’t ask for more from our guys but it just wasn’t enough on the day because they seemed to have a little more in reserve,” he said.

Young Munster had a dream start when Kingsley dropped a goal from 40 metres within two minutes but College powered through for the opening try of the game from Burke, who also converted to secure a 7-3 lead. The out half was the scoring hero after taking a flat pass from Brian Slater to score under the posts, but much of the preparatory work came courtesy of the impressive Dave O’Callaghan and Shane O’Sullivan.

Subsequent scoring was at a premium until Kingsley and Burke kicked penalties in the 32nd and 34th minutes respectively.

College survived an assault on their 10-6 lead when Kingsley missed a penalty in the 36th minute but he nailed another effort just before the break.

Young Munster survived early second-half pressure to secure a 12-10 lead when Kingsley kicked his third penalty on 50 minutes before UCC snatched the initiative again five minutes later, this time with Brian Derham providing the points as replacement kicker for the injured Burke.

But in this game of twists and turns, Young Munster regained control of the scoreboard within two minutes when Kingsley added another penalty for a 15-13 advantage and his side came desperately close to building on that with a succession of attacking opportunities in a subsequent six-minute spell.

College survived that concentrated assault but their defence cracked during another flurry.

Young Munster captain Ger Slattery powered over from close in after centre Derek Corcoran and right wing Aaron Carroll had combined in a 50-metre break to create the attacking opportunity. Kingsley converted from wide out to push the lead out to an unassailable nine points.

UCC: W. Walsh, B. Derham, B. Dennehy, I. Dineen (captain), C. Crowley, A. Burke, B. Slater, G. Duffy, A. Cudmore, J. Ryan, M. Lenihan, P. Donnellan, D. O’Callaghan, S. O’Sullivan, B. O’Callaghan.

Replacements: R. O’Sullivan for Burke (50), B. Cagney for Duffy (61), R. Barry for O’Sullivan (61)

YOUNG MUNSTER: I. Cross, A. Carroll, D. Corcoran, C. Casey, R. Moloney, A. Kingsley, M. Prendergast, G. Flaherty, G. Slattery (captain), A. Cotter, S. O’Neill, D. Payne, L. Og Murphy, N. Melbourne, S. Hassett.

Replacements: J. O’Neill for S. O’Neill, D. Murphy for Flaherty (both 46), B. Guilfoyle for Murphy (63).

Referee: T. Collins (M.A.R).