Young Munster draw a blank at home

Young Munster 0 Old Belvedere 31

There was a time when going to Tom Clifford Park posed major problems for visiting teams, but this afternoon a powerful Old Belvedere side cruised to a comfortable 31-point victory over Young Munster.

Munsters suffered their second Division 1B defeat in quick succession, giving way to the Dubliners in disappointing fashion.

The first half was so lifeless that the main talking point was the issuing of three yellow cards by referee Michael Black.

First to go was Young Munster scrum half Alan Kingsley for a scrum infringement in the 20th minute.

While Kingsley was on the sideline, Old Belvedere out-half Conal Keane landed his second penalty. He had put the visitors in front in the seventh minute.

Phil Werahiko’s charges ended the half with only 13 players on the pitch, as prop Stewart Maguire and lock Alan Trenier were both sin-binned.

Despite this, their forwards managed to nudge the scoreline to 11-0 with a 38th minute try from in-form flanker Richie Leyden, following a well-executed maul.

Keane pushed the visitors further in front with a penalty after 53 minutes and on the hour, Kiwi flanker Jason Risdon got in for a try which Keane converted.

He added another penalty before bulldozing number 8 Leo Auva’a made it over the whitewash, with player-coach Andy Dunne tagging on the extras.

To add to Young Munster’s woes, lock Darragh Payne was shown a straight red card in injury time for a high tackle.