Dolphin delight as losing spell is broken

Dolphin 12 Young Munster 11

A first league win of the season for Dolphin sparked joyous scenes at Musgrave Park on Saturday.

When referee Andy Brace blew the final whistle after two minutes of injury time — that was hotly contested by the large Limerick following — there was a massive outpouring of relief by all associated with the winning side.

Now that the losing streak if over the focus turns to avoiding automatic relegation.

The Cork outfit are now just three points below St. Mary’s College and believe they have a realistic chance of catching the Templeville Road side, especially as the sides clash in the last series of games in April.

Dolphin made the better start with their pack controlling the forward exchanges and two penalties from out half Rory Scannell had them 6-0 up after 11 minutes.

Midway through the opening half each side had a player in the sin bin and from the resulting penalties Scannell and Gearoid Lyons exchanged scores.

Scannell kicked a fourth penalty two minutes from half time to give Dolphin a 12-3 interval lead.

Munsters introduced Willie Staunton at out half at the break and what a difference he made, pinning Dolphin back with some astute kicking.

Inside the opening minute a break by Ben Kilkenny saw Shane O’Leary score a try in the corner for the visitors. It was all Munsters at this stage and a second penalty from Lyons cut the deficit to a point.

However Dolphin withstood the onslaught, but their pack lacked the killer instinct to score a try to put the game beyond the Limerick side.

Ben Martin had a chance to win it for Young Munster with a long range penalty four minutes from time but his effort was wide of the posts.

DOLPHIN: E Mills, E O’Shaughnessy, C McGovern, D Horgan, W Hanly; R Scannell, D Foley; P McCabe, N Scannell, J Rochford; C Rowe, D O’Mahony; R O’Herlihy, J Quill, J Fitzgerald.

Rolling replacements: K O’Halloran, J Leahy, J Vaughan, S Lee, S McAuliffe.

YOUNG MUNSTER: D O’Mahony; E Carr, S O’Leary, K Hifo, E O’Keeffe; G Lyons, R Guerin; G Flaherty, G Slattery, P Allen; A Kennedy, T Goggin; Y Browne, B Kilkenny, S Rennison.

Rolling replacements: S Fenton, B Betts, D Gallagher, B Martin, W Staunton.

Referee: A Brace (IRFU).