Derby success ends Young Munster losing streak

Young Munster 18 Shannon 0

Easing Shannon's relegation worries was far from the minds of the Young Munster players who finally brought an end to their six-match run of defeats with an 18-0 derby success at Tom Clifford Park.

The welcome result gave the ideal going away present to the Cookies' player-coach Mike Prendergast, who is taking up a skills coach position with French club Grenoble in the summer.

As local derbies go this was always going the way of Young Munster who had 13 points on board without response by half-time.

The highlight of that first half was the only try which was a superb individual effort by left winger Darragh O'Neill.

He gained possession near halfway and took off on a run that culminated with a fine score which out-half Shane O'Leary converted.

That had Young Munster 7-0 in front and a brace of penalties by the promising O'Leary completed the first half scoring.

The sin-binning of scrum half Rob Guerin did not help Shannon's cause and nine minutes into the second half Young Munster struck again for a second try with centre Mark Doyle touching down far out this time.

Shannon had a couple of chances to try and engineer something in their hunt for a losing bonus point but knock ons proved costly, and they remain second-from-bottom in Division 1A.

If Shannon stay there in the league table, they will face a relegation/promotion play-off against the second-placed team in Division 1B, likely to be UCD. But if they lose in the final round they could be facing automatic relegation with local rivals UL Bohemians battling with them.

Scorers: Young Munster: Tries: Darragh O’Neill, Mark Doyle; Con: Shane O’Leary; Pens: Shane O’Leary 2

Shannon: -