Young Munster Crowned Munster Junior Cup Champions

Young Munster claimed their first Bank of Ireland Munster Junior Cup title since 1999 and their eight in all with a 22-13 win over Cork Constitution today at Irish Independent Park.

Young Munster won the Bank of Ireland Munster Junior Cup title for an eight time with an excellent second half performance in what was a thrilling final at Irish Independent Park.
Playing against a strong wind in the opening half Cork Constitution looked to be in a good position tailing 7-3 at half time but the ‘Munsters pack dug deep and upped the tempo in the second half to run out deserving winners.
Credit to both sides who played running rugby at every opportunity and Cork Constitution who were sublime in the opening half were unable to convert their chances into scores.
Great breaks by Con’s full back Liam O’Connell and winger Michael Clune from deep in their own half saw them being stopped inside the Munster’s 22.
The Con’ pack were posing big problems for the Munster’s eight in the opening twenty minutes especially at scrum time where Sean O’Leary, Sonny Dwyer, Evan Mintern and Rory Burke were always prominent in the loose.
Eoin Lacey was off target with a Con’ penalty after four minutes and Munster’s Paul Downes missed an easier attempt shortly after.
The deadlock was broken in the 31^st minute when Lacey landed a penalty for Con’
A great break by Munster’s out half Robert Guerin brought play into the Con’ 22 and after a series of drives by The Cookies pack, they were eventually rewarded on the stroke of half time when skipper Darren Gallagher barged over for a try and Downes converted to give his side a 7-3 interval lead.

Sensing an uphill struggle in the second half the Munster pack upped the ante and after good work close to the Con’ line, Jack Harrington got in for a try which Downes converted to make it 14-3 after forty five minutes.
Using the wind Con’ had Munsters pinned back in their own 22 and a great break by Mintern eventually resulted in Rory Horgan getting in for a try and Lacey converted to make it a four point game after sixty minutes.
O’Connell brought off a great try saving tackle on Munster’s winger Barry Gibbons and a minute later Downes extended the Limerick side’s advantage to 17-10 with a penalty.
A yellow card for Munster’s replacement Ben Betts five minutes from time resulted in Lacey kicking a penalty for Con’
Two minutes later Munster’s pounded the Con’ line and Guerin got in for his side’s third try to make it 22-13.
Con’ fought back to save the game in injury time and the “Yellow Road” was sung with gusto at the final whistle as the trophy returned to Limerick for another year.

Scorers Cork Constitution: R Horgan try, E Lacey 2 pens, con.
Young Munster: D Gallagher, J Harrington, R Guerin tries, P Downes 2 cons, pen.

Cork Constitution FC: Liam O’Connell; Sean Gray, James John O’Neill, Rory Horgan, Michael Clune; Eoin Lacey, Jason Higgins; Brendan Quinlan, Liam O’Connor, Rory Burke; Glen Stokes, Sean O’Leary; Sonny Dwyer, Daniel Walsh, Evan Mintern.
Replacements: Jack McHenry , Gregory Roche, Cian Barry, Andrew Dorgan, John Poland.
Young Munster RFC: Paul Downes; Barry Gibbons, Jack Harrington, Mark Doyle, Michael Devaney; Robert Guerin, Gary Fitzgerald; Peter Meyer, Shane Fenton, Paul Allen; Darren Gallagher, Yasin Browne; Michael Madden, Darren Ryan, Sean Rennison.
Replacements: Gavin Ryan, Benjamin Betts, Alan Ross, Elie Mundu, Calvin Nash.
Referee: Richard Horgan (MAR)