Weekend Rugby Roundup

Garryowen claimed their 40th Bank of Ireland Munster Senior Challenge Cup title, as St. Mary’s booked their place in the Junior Clubs Challenge Shield Final, and Killarney and Carrick-on-Suir reached the Martin O’Sullivan Cup decider.

In a busy weekend of rugby action, Garryowen regained the Senior Cup after a six year gap. You can read the match report here. 

Both Thomond and Newcastle West opened up their Bank of Ireland Munster Junior Cup campaign with home wins over Second Division sides.

Thomond defeated St. Senan’s 54-31 at Liam Fitzgerald Park in a game that produced twelve tries. Pa Ryan and Luke Costelloe each scored two tries for the Junior League winners and Evan Maher, Aidan Quinlivan, and Ken McGrath got one each. They were also awarded a penalty try, and Evan Cusack kicked six conversions. Mikey Lynch replied with two tries for the Clare side, and Jamie McNamara, and Evan O’Gorman got one each, with Craig Airey kicking a conversion and a penalty, and Declan Rowe added three conversions.

Newcastle West were 33-12 home winners against Old Christians. Podge Roche scored two tries for Newcastle West, Julian Bell, TJ Relihan and Liam Treacy got one apiece. Shane Airey converted four of the tries. Rohan Kiely and Ryan Butt replied with tries for the Cork side and John Marnell kicked a conversion.

Thurles and Kilfeacle finished their Junior League campaign with a 26-10 home win for Thurles. Sonny Dwyer scored two tries for Thurles, and Kieran O’Hagen and John Shaw got one each, and James Maher kicked three conversions. Cillian Noonan replied with a try for Kilfeacle, and Luke Heuston kicked a conversion and a penalty.

Crosshaven made sure of their promotion from the Second division with a 31-9 home win over Tralee in their final game of the campaign. Thomas O’Donovan scored two tries for Crosshaven and Patrick Cotter, Kealan Daly, and Denis McBarron got one each. Jack O’Connell kicked three conversions. Seamus Lyne replied with three penalties for the home side.

St. Mary’s will play St. Senan’s in the Junior Clubs Challenge Shield Final after their 32-12 away win at Abbeyfeale. Jamie O’Sullivan and Mark Nolan scored tries for Abbeyfeale and Philip Collins kicked a conversion.

Carrick-on-Suir caused a big upset in Castleisland, when they defeated the home side 13-6 to book their place in the Martin O’Sullivan Cup Final. Neil Moriarty scored Carrick’s try and Fionn Barry converted and added two penalties. Joe Sheehy kicked two penalties for Castleisland.

Killarney edged out Chorca Dhuibhne in the other semi-final with a 20-17 victory over Chorca Dhuibhne. Donnchadh Grealy, Shane Looney, and Harry Kelly were the Killarney try scorers and Ciaran O’Brien added a conversion and a penalty. Sean long scored two tries for the Kerry Gaeltacht side and Gearoid Breathnach got one.