St Mary's claim bonus-point win over Young Munster

St. Mary's College 44 Young Munster 24

An opening half scoring blitz laid the platform for St. Mary's College to claim an impressive bonus-point victory over Young Munster in their final league game of the 2012/13 campaign.

Having won the compeititon last year, St. Mary's will be somewhat disappointed to have concluded the season in eighth place, but they nevertheless showcased their capabilities in a highly competitive outing to finish the season on a high.

Full-back Gavin Dunne had a chance to open the scoring for St. Mary's with just two minutes gone on the clock, but his 35-metre penalty dropped just short of the target.

Young Munster responded well by pressing towards the St. Mary's line on a number of occasions. However, Hugh Hogan's charges managed to ride the storm successfully, and Dunne made amends for his earlier miss by slotting a close range penalty after 17 minutes.

This score gave some much-needed momentum to the hosts and they broke through for their opening try of the afternoon just three minutes later when winger Conor Hogan grounded on the left flank following an excellent cross-field move.

Dunne converted and he also added the extras after Steve Toal-Lennon applied the finishing touches on the far wing on the 26th minute.

St. Mary's were now playing with supreme confidence, and it came as no surprise to see them adding further to the scoreboard from the subsequent attack.

Prop Arthur Lyons was the player to cross the whitewash this time, as a magnificent team move - with Lyons' fellow forwards Richie Sweeney and Jerry Sexton doing some of the spade work - led to another seven-point salvo for the 2012 champions.

At this stage, the Templeogue men looked primed for a comprehensive victory, and things got even better for them three minutes before half-time . Inside centre Rob Hudson added his name to the scoresheet by driving over to the left of the posts at the end of a strong maul.

Incredibly, this moved Mary's into a 29-0 lead, but the Cookies did manage to address this deficit before the break as a five-pointer deep into stoppage time by Darragh O'Neill, converted emphatically by full-back Derry O'Connor) cut the gap to 22.

Though it did not seem like it at the time, this strong finish to the first half did serve as a lifeline to the Tom Clifford Park outfit, and they continued to take the game to the Dubliners on the resumption.

A sustained spell of pressure in the St. Mary's 22 lead to a second try for the visitors from the industrious Craig O'Hanlon. With O'Connor once again finding his range with the conversion, the prospect of a dramatic comeback was very much on the cards for player-coach Mike Prendergast.

Prendergast was in charge of Munsters for the final time before his big coaching move to Grenoble in France, and he would have been thrilled to see O'Neill bursting over for his second five-pointer of the contest on 51 minutes, which was once again converted by the reliable O'Connor.

Suddenly, Young Munster found themselves trailing by just eight points, and when O'Connor expertly negotiated a tricky penalty opportunity with 16 minutes to play, it was very much game on.

St. Mary's had struggled to come to terms with the intensity Young Munster had shown after the restart, but they did finally break the scoring sequence of their opponents thanks to a 69th minute penalty from the ever dependable Dunne.

O'Connor did have the chance to cancel out this score with a place-kick effort of his own just four minutes later, but he was desperately unfortunate to see his kick crashing off the upright.

This proved to be the last meaningful attack for Munsters in the game, as St. Mary's made sure of their triumph with a breakaway try from Hudson on 76 minutes.

Dunne contributed his fourth conversion and flanker Kevin Sheahan put the icing on the cake with his side's sixth try four minutes into added time.

Scorers:

St. Mary's College: Tries: Conor Hogan, Arthur Lyons, Robbie Hudson 2, Steve Toal-Lennon, Kevin Sheahan; Cons: Gavin Dunne 4; Pens: Gavin Dunne 2

Young Munster: Tries: Darragh O'Neill 2, Craig O'Hanlon; Cons: Derry O'Connor 3; Pen: Derry O'Connor

HT: St. Mary's College 29 Young Munster 7