Deasy provides Reds’ cutting edge

A FIRST-HALF penalty try, supplemented by 14 points from the right boot of Scott Deasy, steered the Munster ‘A’ team to a workmanlike 19-3 victory over their Connacht counterparts at the Sportsground last night.

In overcast conditions, Nigel Carolan’s Connacht side took an early lead thanks to a penalty from Tadhg Leader, who replaced Jack Carty at out-half.

Munster’s Scott Deasy replied with his first successful penalty in the 10th minute and, with Munster A typically strong in the set-piece, Deasy kicked the visitors ahead.

Neither back line could hit their stride in what was a stop-start first half, Ian Nagle’s aerial skills and Deasy’s precise kicking out of hand being the most noteworthy aspects of the game.

Deasy fired over his third penalty goal and Munster’s more experienced forwards, with Marcus Horan, Damien Varley and BJ Botha in the front row, gained the upper hand at scrum time.

Connacht loosehead prop Denis Buckley paid the price when he was sin-binned by referee Mark Patton and, after a series of five-metre scrums, Munster were duly awarded a penalty try which Deasy converted.

Connacht, with David Heffernan a lively presence in the back row, were let down by some handling errors and then suffered another setback when lock Michael Kearney was yellow-carded.

With Tomás O’Leary impressive for the visitors, McCrea was arguably the best of the Connacht backs, slotting in well at outside centre.

New signing Will Chambers got a rare chance to stretch his legs in attack as Munster A built through the phases late on.

The young hosts had their third forward sin-binned when replacement prop Jamie Stephens was sent to the line and the resulting penalty was converted by Deasy for a 16-point winning margin.

Scorers for Connacht: Pen: Leader.

Scorers for Munster: Try: Penalty try. Pens: Deasy 4.

CONNACHT A: S Layden; Cleary, M McCrea, D McSharry, C Boland; T Leader, D Moore; D Buckley, D Murphy, S Maguire, M Kearney, D Gannon (capt), D Heffernan, E Grace, E McKeon.

Replacements: K O’Byrne, F Bealham, JStephens, D Qualter, A Conneely, M Dolan, M Nikora, F Gormley.

MUNSTER A: S Scanlon; L O’Dea, W Chambers, T Gleeson, S Zebo; S Deasy, T O’Leary; M Horan, D Varley, BJ Botha, I Nagle, D Foley, D O’Callaghan, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan (capt).

Replacements: D Kilcoyne, D Fogarty, J Ryan, P Donnellan, B O’Hara, D Williams, D Cusack, JJ Hanrahan.

Referee: Mark Patton (IRFU)