Munster Almost Snatch It At The End

Trailing 17-11 as the game drifted to a close, Munster A almost emulated the heroics of the senior side four days earlier, but were denied a possiblr last gasp victory by a hard working Leinster defence.

A 71st minute Paul Warwick penalty took Munster to within a converted try of the lead and despite laying siege to the Leinster line a Munster were unable to snatch a last gasp victory. Wing Ciaran O’Boyle came closest, having earlier done really well to take a crunching Stephen Keogh before touching down in the corner after good work by replacement flanker Tommy O’Donnell.

Perhaps the crucial point of the game came just before half time with Leinster leading 10-3 when James Coughlan was harshly yellow-carded and Munster reduced to 14. Before Couglan returned Leinster had raced into a 14 point lead after Sean O’Brien’s break ad off-load sent Chris Keane scampering in under the posts at the Old Wesley end.

Shortly after this score Munster introduced Nick Williams to the fray and O’Donnell showed some excellent footwork before passing to O’Boyle who had a lot of work to do before scoring.

Warwick kicked a 71st minute penalty into the strong wind to ensure a grandstand finish and while not taking away from the merit of the Leinster win, there could have been few complaints had Munster prevailed.

Munster: D Hurley; A Horgan (S Deasy 66), K Lewis, E Ryan (J Manning 58), C O’Boyle; P Warwick, M Prendergast (D Williams 53); D Ryan, D Fogarty (M Essex 62), T Ryan; M Melbourne I Nagle), D Foley; B Holland (N Willaims 53), J O’Sullivan (T O’Donnell 58), J Coughlan capt. 

Leinster: Felix Jones; Gary Brown (Niall Morris, 56), Eoin O’Malley (Kyle Tonetti, 55), Fergus McFadden, Simon Keogh; Isa Nacewa (Paul O’Donohoe, half-time), Chris Keane (David Moore, 77); Ronan McCormack, John Fogarty (Brian Blaney, half-time), Jamie Hagan (Ruaidhri Murphy, 58); Cameron Jowitt, Trevor Hogan; Kevin McLaughlin, Sean O’Brien, Stephen Keogh capt.