Munster bring their A game

Good Friday was upgraded to a great one as far as Munster rugby fans were concerned after the province’s A team fought their way to an extra-time victory over old enemy Leinster in this epic B&I Cup semi-final last night.

Leinster had named an experienced and potent team but the visitors made it quite obvious from early on that they hadn’t come to Dublin to have their bellies tickled.

They threw themselves into every tackle with ferocity, and when they were in possession there was great energy and execution to what they were trying to do.

Leinster struggled throughout to get their exciting looking back-line into the game because Munster were dictating things at the breakdown and making the match a real arm-wrestle rather than a thing of beauty.

After Noel Reid missed an opportunity to open the scoring for Leinster with a penalty, his opposite number, Scott Deasy, was more clinical from a similar distance to put Munster 3-0 to the good.

Reid had better luck a few minutes later to draw the teams level, but that score didn’t rouse the home team as much as their fans hoped.

Munster were still playing with great energy and another impressive surge deep into Leinster territory earned a penalty that Deasy knocked over easily.

Leinster were slowly warming to the ask though, and only desperate defence denied Dave Kearney a try.

It was as close as either team came to making a significant breakthrough in the first half, but at least Leinster had the silver lining of a penalty for an earlier infringement that Reid kicked over. But Munster had the final say of the half when Deasy kicked his third from as many attempts to edge his team into a 9-6 lead at the break.

What had been a cagey game until then exploded to life at the start of the second half when the teams shared four tries in just 15 minutes.

It looked like Leinster had taken a firm grip when Luke McGrath dived over from close range and a magnificent Leo Auva’a run set up another try for Dominic Ryan.

But Munster responded impressively with two tries of their own.

First, Barry O’Mahony blocked down a Noel Reid kick, collected the ball, and dived over under the posts.

Then jinking winger Luke O’Dea scorched down the right wing before cutting inside Kearney for another.

A couple of Reid penalties put Leinster ahead again, but Deasy drew Munster level with his fourth successful kick and for the final 20 minutes of normal time Munster dominated territory and possession.

They had two opportunities to win it in the dying minutes, but Deasy proved he was fallible after all as both penalties curled wide of the posts.

Those misses didn’t rob Munster of their momentum though, and when Dave Kilcoyne charged over for a try in the first period of extra-time they moved into a 36-29 lead.

Leinster never really looked like summoning a response as Munster dominated territory to safely see out a thoroughly deserved victory.

Scorers for Munster: Tries: B O’Mahony, L O’Dea, D Kilcoyne. Pens: S Deasy (five). Cons: S Deasy (three).

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: L McGrath, D Ryan. Pens: N Reid (five). Cons: N Reid (2).

LEINSTER: D Kearney; A Conway, B Macken, C O’Shea, F Carr; N Reid, L McGrath; J McGrath, A Dundon, M Moore; D Browne, M Flanagan; R Ruddock, D Ryan, L Auva’a.

Replacements: C Marsh for C O’Shea (ht), A Boyle for C Marsh (43), J O’Connell for M Moore (69), J Murphy for D Browne (85), T Sexton for A Dundon (78), M Healy for D Kearney (90).

MUNSTER: S Scanlon; L O’Dea, D Barnes, JJ Hanrahan, I Dineen; S Deasy, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, S Henry, J Ryan; B Hayes, I Nagle; B Holland, B O’Mahony, P Butler.

Replacements: D Fogarty for S Henry, P Borlase for J Ryan (both 52), R O’Mahony for D Barnes (58), C Sheridan for D Williams (68), D Cusack for JJ Hanrahan (70), B O’Hara for B O’Mahony (74).

Referee: I Davies (WRU).