Munster U18 Schools Suffer Defeat

The Munster Under 18 Schools side were defeated 23-12 by their Leinster counterparts at the CIT Grounds, with the home side staging a late rally to score 12 unanswered points.

Both sides had their moments in a scoreless opening quarter as Munster, with the wind at their backs, had the visitors pinned back from the kick-off.

The home side found themselves on the defensive for most of the second quarter and the deadlock was broken in the 25th minute when Ed Brennan made a break from a five-meter scrum to score the game’s opening try. Mick O’Gara’s conversion attempt rebounded off the upright.

O’Gara increased the visitors’ lead to eight points as he slotted over a penalty approaching the interval.

Leinster continued to have home side on the back foot for most of the second half as Sam Dardis barged over in the corner following a maul deep inside the Munster 22.

Midway through the second half, O’Gara converted his second penalty to stretch the margin to 16 points.

In the closing stages, Ethan Baxter exposed gaps in the Munster defence to pounce for their third try which O’Gara converted.

Munster refused to give up without a struggle and they opened their account in the 33rd minute as Tommy Downes embarked on a soccer-style dribble from the visitors’ 22 to score his side’s first try.

Aaron Hennessy scored Munster’s second try in stoppage time following a ruck outside the visitors’ 22 and Andrew Hogan converted.

Munster: John Hurley (Crescent College); Jamin Hoffman (Crescent College), Tom Downes (CBC), Jude Pendijito (St Munchin’s College), Andrew Hogan (Glenstal Abbey School); Jack Delaney (Crescent College), Jack O’Riordan (CBC); Conor Fitzgerald (Crescent College), Aaron Hennessy (The Ayra Project) , Mark Donnelly (CBC); Cian Hurley (CBC), Eoin Quilter (PBC); Luke Obersby (Midleton College), Mark Crowe (St Munchin’s College), Alex Kendellen (PBC).

Replacements: Kieran O’Shea (Castletroy College), Ciaran Ryan (Rockwell College) Evan Sheehan (St Munchin’s College), David McCarthy (PBC), Jay Traynor (De La Salle College), Daniel Okeke (Ard Scoil Ri­s), Oisin Mangan (Rockwell College), Cian Whooley (CBC), Mark McLoughlin (PBC).

Leinster: Sam Dardis (Terenure College); Tom Maher (Blackrock College), Ross McInness (Terenure College), Mick O’Gara (Presentation Bray), John Maher (Clongowes Wood); Cian Egenton (Castleknock College), Ben Murphy (Presentation Bray); Conor Duff (Clongowes Wood), Jerry Cahir (Cistercian College Roscrea), Luke Rigney (Cistercian College Roscrea); Jody Booth (St Michael’s College), Cian Prendergast (Newbridge College); Anthony Ryan (Clongowes Wood), Jack Cooke (Terenure College), Ed Brennan (Blackrock College).

Replacements: Bobby Sheehan (Clongowes Wood), Simon Clear (Gonzaga College), Thomas Clarkson (Blackrock College), Gavin Dowling (Clongowes Wood), Ethan Baxter (St Gerard’s College), Adam McEvoy (St Mary’s College), Ben Watson (St Gerard’s College), Max O’Reilly (St Gerard’s College).

Referee: Oisin Quinn (IRFU).