Munster Junior League Round-Up

Kilfeacle caused a big upset in Division 1 of the Munster Junior League with victory in Bandon as Thomond won the big Limerick derby with a win over Richmond.

The surprising defeat of Bandon means that they have lost their two opening games, while Kilfeacle, who opened their campaign last week with a win over Thomond, were deserving 45-15 winners and now face another big test next Sunday when they host arch rivals Clanwilliam.

Kevin Kinane scored two tries for the Tipperary side and Diarmuid O’Donnell, Cormac Ryan and Willie Staunton were their other try scorers. Staunton converted four of the tries and kicked two drop goals and two penalties. Olan Crowley and Marc Gibbons replied with tries for Bandon and Kerry Desmond kicked a conversion and a penalty.

Thomond bounced back from last week’s defeat with a 22-5 win against Richmond at Liam Fitzgerald Park. Ger Finucane scored two tries for Thomond and Conor Radcliffe and Evan O’Connor got one each. Adam Guerin kicked one conversion. Jack O’Hanlon scored a consolation try for Richmond late in the game.

Mallow continued their good start to the campaign with an 18-17 away win at Abbeyfeale. For the second week in a row Mallow had to come from behind with tries from Owen Glynn and Michael Linehan. David Breen kicked a conversion and two penalties. Abbeyfeale replied with tries from Tom Hassett, Adrian Enright and Michael Roche with Derry O’Connor kicking a conversion.

Newcastle West also share top spot with Kilfeacle and Mallow after their 45-10 home win over Skibbereen. Daniel Normoyle, Sean Neville, Darragh Fox, Ted Walters, Kealan Headd, Sean Murphy and Aidan Quinlivan scored tries for Newcastle West. Sean Herlihy kicked four conversions and Michael Burke added one. Jamie O’Driscoll replied with a try for Skibb’ and Matthew Bushe converted and also added a penalty.

Clonakilty, the other promoted side, had to come from behind to share the spoils away to Clanwilliam 16-16. Sean Smith and Jack O’Dwyer scored tries for Clan’ and Niall Leahy added two penalties. Peter Shallow scored Clonakilty’s try and Eoghan Deasy converted and added three penalties.

Crosshaven bounced back from last week’s defeat by Newcastle West with a 38-14 away win against Waterpark. Cian McGovern, Shane Bushe, Jamie Kind, Ian Smith, Graham Smith and Killian O’Keeffe scored tries for the winners. McGovern kicked four conversions. Jamie Kiersey and George McDermot scored tries for Waterpark and John Flynn converted both.

The St. Senan’s v Galbally tie was postponed.

In Division Two only four sides have won their opening two games with Kanturk, Dungarvan and St. Mary’s sharing top spot.

Kanturk made it two wins from two with a 32-12 away win in Tralee. Conor O’Sullivan, Olan Daly, Gearoid Lyons and Sean O’Brien scored tries for the Duhallow side and Paul O’Keeffe kicked three conversions and two penalties.

Dungarvan defeated Ballincollig 30-15 with two tries from Daniel Slevin and one each from Lár Houlihan and Jack McGrath. Dave Hickey kicked two conversions and two penalties.

St. Mary’s recorded a 40-24 away win at Fethard. Keith McManus scored two tries for the Saints and Anthony Morgan and Alex Kiely got one each. They were also awarded a penalty try. Jazz Pendejito converted two tries and kicked three penalties. Conor Kavanagh scored two tries for Fethard and Chris Large and Cathal Meagher also scored tries. Josef O’Connor added two conversions.

Old Christians continued their good start with a 31-22 away win at Muskerry. Eddie Delahunt, Cian Smith and Chris Hartnett scored tries for the winners and John Marnell kicked two conversions and four penalties. Shane Breen, Jonathan Buckley and Shane O’Riordan replied with tries for Muskerry. Robert Cahill converted two of the tries and kicked one penalty.

Kinsale had a 27-14 bonus-point home win against Cobh Pirates. Jordan O’Regan, Fergus Gimblett, Sean Kingston and Joe Moriarty scored tries for Kinsale with Kingston adding two conversions and a drop goal. Ian Jones was Cobh’s try scorer and Adam Devlin kicked three penalties.

Charleville won the north Cork derby, defeating Fermoy 12-7. Jessie Smith kicked four penalties for Charleville and Frankie O’Keeffe replied with a try for Fermoy which Eddie O’Connell converted.

A try by Sean Nolan, converted by Joe Sheehy, was not enough for Castleisland who lost away to Thurles 55-7.

Ennis are the only side with two wins out of two in Division 3 after their narrow 15-14 home win over Killarney. Paudie Sheahan kicked two penalties to give Killarney an early 6-0 lead but a try by Niall O’Loughlin and a Morgan Garry penalty put Ennis ahead 8-6. A third Sheahan penalty and a Liam McCarthy try put the visitors back in front. A try by Noel Shannon converted by Sean Hayes earned Ennis the points.

Killorglin were 23-8 away winners at Mitchelstown. Shane O’Neill and Fionan O’Sullivan scored tries for Killorglin and Luke O’Shea converted both and added three penalties. Chris Noonan replied with a try for Mitchelstown and Pa Magee added a penalty.

Waterford City were 28-10 home winners over Bantry Bay. Darren Coady scored two tries and Cian Foskin and Jack Jacob got one each. Jacob converted all four tries. Sean O’Shea was Bantry’s try scorer and Danny Hutchinson kicked a penalty and a conversion.

Scariff opened their campaign with a 12-11 home win over Youghal. Bill Molloy scored two tries for Scariff and Jason Monaghan converted one. Jonathan Ormond replied with a try and two penalties for Youghal.

Dunmanway defeated Douglas-Carrigaline 27-17 with tries from Damien Healy, Rian Hayden, Daniel McSweeney and Tom Daly. Darragh McCarthy kicked two conversions and a penalty.