Future in safe hands as A team deliver cup

Munster A secured a first British and Irish Cup victory with an accomplished all-round performance that overpowered brave Cross Keys at Musgrave Park last night.

Munster dominated throughout and possessed the bit of class needed to put this game to bed quickly enough.

There was a time when Welsh clubs might have ruled the roost in terms of classy back play. Last night, however, that distinction belonged to Munster and for the most part, the Billy Holland-led pack blew their rivals off the park, with individual and collective skill that will surely give rich hope for the future.

Pity, even though the crowd was vociferous and supportive, that a bigger attendance than 3,000 didn’t make their way to the venue to watch such a quality display.

Vanquished Cross Keys backs coach, former Welsh international Mark Ring, was disappointed but accepted the better team won, believing there was nothing much more his side could have done to stem the tide.

Munster coach Ian Costello believed it was a combination of ruthless efficiency up front and a fair bit of guile and opportunism behind the scrum that drove this impressive win.

“I don’t think we [coaches] could have asked for more; they played it very well, got to grips with the forward battle and took their opportunities from out wide. I’d be very happy with that performance,” he said.

Cross Keys struck first with a Jason Dovey penalty inside a minute, and Dovey then traded penalties with Scott Deasy for a 6-3 lead after six minutes.

Munster were denied a try on 12 minutes when Duncan Williams and Sean Scanlon combined to send Denis Hurley in at the corner, only for the try to be disallowed for crossing in the middle of the field. Instead, they had to be satisfied with a 13th-minute penalty from Deasy to level the scores.

Tovey was back on the scoreboard with his third penalty but Deasy kicked another for a 9-9 situation, no less than Munster deserved given their control of possession and territory in that first half.

Seconds later, after Holland won an attacking lineout, Duncan Williams raced through virtually untouched for a try at the posts. Deasy converted to secure a 16-9 lead but Munster, now with a big advantage following a yellow card to Cross Keys captain Rob Nash, seemed to sit back rather than build on the advantage.

Tovey’s fourth attempt at goal in 34 minutes was deemed to have swung left and was no wonder his colleagues disputed the decision to disallow it. However, he had the satisfaction of knocking over his fifth attempt a few minutes later to reduce the arrears to four points.

Four minutes into the second half, Munster went further ahead. In a sense, it was a bizarre score, with Luke O’Dea snatching possession from the hands of Jevon Groves only seconds after Munster had knocked on themselves.

Referee James Matthews from Scotland had called advantage over and O’Dea made the most of the opportunity to score the try that Deasy converted for a 23-12 lead. Deasy kicked a subsequent penalty to give Munster a 14-point advantage.

A further try after 68 minutes from Ivan Dineen, with help from Denis Fogarty, Holland, Deasy and Paddy Butler, was enough to push Munster well over the finish line.

MUNSTER: S Scanlon; L O’Dea, D Barnes, I Dineen, D Hurley; S Deasy, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, S Henry, S Archer; B Hayes, I Nagle; B Holland (capt), D O’Callaghan, P Butler.

Replacements: D Fogarty for Henry (49), B O’Mahony for Hayes (61), D Cusack for Deasy (71), JJ Hanrahan for O’Dea (71), B O Hara for O’Callaghan, G Hurley for Williams, J Ryan for Archer (all 75).

CROSS KEYS: G David, K Baller, L Andrews, P Williams, N Trowbridge, J Tovey, R Dyer, R Cormick, G Price, M Jones, D Hodge, T Lampard, R Peebles, R Nash (capt), J Groves.

Replacements: L Rawlins for Lampard, C Trayhem for Peebles (both 51), M Popham for Nash (60), J Solis for Price (63), C Gould for Jones, L Williams for P Williams, O Jones for Dyer (all 72)

Referee: J Matthews (Scotland).