U-18 Munster Youths Preview

This season’s Munster Youths U-18 and U-16 competitions begin on Friday night with some of Ireland’s most promising young rugby talent set to feature.

Courtesy of:- Cathal Donovan, East Munster Youths PRO

A number of players from the Munster U-18 Clubs side that won two out of three in the interprovincial series last year will be involved in the competition.

Bruff will be attempting to retain the U-18 title and the Limerick side have already claimed silverware this season after winning the North Munster league with a full match report from the thrilling final win over Newcastle West here.

The 16 teams competing are made up of six clubs representing South Munster, four clubs representing East Munster, West Munster has two representatives with the remaining four clubs at this stage of the competition qualifying from North Munster.

The teams have benn split into four Pools with the top team in each section qualifying for the semi-finals.

Group One at U-18 level is comprised of Newcastle West, Cork Constitution, Dungarvan and Midleton. Newcastle West were runners up in the North Munster league, to Bruff, losing out in the final by a solitary point on a score line of 18-17. They will find it difficult against East Munster finalists Dungarvan, though well beaten by Waterpark in that final, and both of the two South Munster representatives in this group Midleton and Cork Constitution.

In Group 2, Highfield will look to their Irish U-18 Clubs front row player Ian McCarthy for leadership as they attempt to qualify from a tricky group that also contains Kinsale, North Kerry and Young Munster. Young Munster were runners up at this grade in all four competitions they competed in last season (Pan Munster, North Munster League, North Munster Open & Closed Cups) and reach the Munster Youths competition thanks to their progression to the the semi-finals of the North Munster league where they were defeated by Bruff.

North Kerry are a combined side made up of players from clubs in the Northern part of West Munster and competed in the South Munster League before Christmas. Cork Constitution qualified out of the same group of the South Munster League as North Kerry and defeated the combined side 19-8 when they clashed at the start of November. The Temple Hill side went on to qualify for the South Munster League semi-finals and defeated Skibbereen 23-13 last weekend to qualify for the final where they will play Kinsale at a later date.

Qualification from Group 3 of this season's U-18 competition should go down to the wire considering the strength in depth of the sides in this group. Serial winners of Munster and All Ireland youths competitions, Bruff and Waterpark, will both be seeking to add to the numerous provincial titles their clubs have already won and they are joined in the group 3 by Bantry Bay and Clonmel both of whom will be seeking to bring a first provincial title to their clubs. Bruff, Waterpark and Bantry Bay were all semi-finalists at under 16 last season while the Bruff and Waterpark were also semi-finalists at U-18 level which suggests a few great weeks of rugby to come from these clubs.

The final group at U-18 level sees four sides who may not have won their regional league like sides in other groups but still have to be looked at as strong contenders for a provincial title. Dolphin only narrowly lost out on a semi -final place in the South Munster League before Christmas and will be eager to impress in their first time competing in this competition at this grade. They are joined in group 4 by Cashel, who qualified for this stage of the competition with an East Munster league quarter final victory over Clanwilliam before a narrow 14-10 defeat to Dungarvan ended their chances of winning the league for this season. Tralee have competed at this level every season since 2010/2011 and will be hopeful of building on last season when they reached the knock out stages for the first time. The final team in this group is Thomond. The North Limerick club were semi-finalists in the North Munster league and lost out to Newcastle West at that stage and will be hopeful of progressing through to the knock out stages of the Pan Munster competition for the first time since the 2010/2011 season.

Munster Youth U-18 Groups
Group 1: Newcastle West, Cork Constitution, Dungarvan, Midleton
Groups 2: Highfield, Kinsale, North Kerry, Young Munster,
Group 3: Bruff, Clonmel, Bantry Bay, Waterpark, Shannon
Group 4: Dolphin, Cashel, Tralee, Thomond

Upcoming Fixtures

FRIDAY 30th JANUARY
Munster Youths Under 18 Group 2: Highfield v Kinsale, Woodleigh Park, 6pm;

SATURDAY 31st JANUARY
Munster Youths Under 18 Group 1: Newcastle West v Cork Constitution, Newcastle West, 12pm;
Group 4: Dolphin v Cashel, Mahon, 12.30pm; Tralee v Thomond, Tralee, 1pm;
Group 3: Bruff v Clonmel, Kilballyowen Park, 1pm;

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Munster Youths Under 18 Group 2: North Kerry v Young Munster, Castleisland, 11am;
Group 1: Dungarvan v Midleton, Dungarvan, 12pm;
Group 3: Bantry Bay v Waterpark, Bantry, 1pm;