Old Crescent's Munster Junior Cup bid dashed by Cork Con in narrow final defeat

OLD Crescent were denied in their bid to claim a coveted Bank of Ireland Munster Junior Cup final success when the Takumi Park side suffered a dramatic 21-19 defeat to Cork Constitution in this season's final played at Virgin Media Park in Cork on Saturday afternoon.

Crescent had reached the final by recording home wins over Thurles, Garryowen, Highfield and Shannon.

The Rosbrien side won the inaugural Munster Junior Cup decider as Crescent College FC in 1909, running out 7-6 winners over Cork Constitution. The Limerick side were appearing in their third decider as Old Crescent on Saturday having also been defeated by Cork Con in their previous final appearances in 1951 and 1956.

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The sides traded early penalties in Saturday's final with Glen Kelly dissecting the uprights for Crescent, while Cork Con hit back through out-half Aidan Moynihan.

The Limerick side then hit back to score their first try of the afternoon through John Toland for 8-3.

However, back came Cork Con and Josh Daly doted down for a 36th minute try, which Moynihan converted.

Old Crescent did lead at half-time, however, as Kelly slotted a second penalty goal of the afternoon to see the Limerick side into an 11-10 interval lead.

The lead changed hands early in the second half, however, as the Lillywhites got in for a try through hooker George Good to lead 15-11.

To their credit, a resilient Crescent side responded once more with Lochlainn O'Keeffe dotting down for 16-15.

However, Crescent were reduced to 14 players in the 66^th minute with a yellow card and Con regained the lead with a successful penalty.

Battling Old Crescent weren’t finished yet, however, as they were awarded a penalty of their own in the 74^th minute which was converted to see the Limerick side into a 19-18 lead.

However, the drama wasn't over yet and a final minute penalty from Con's George Coomber ultimately sealed a 21-19 success and 20th Munster Junior Cup success for the Temple Hill side.

CORK CONSTITUTION: George Coomber; Johnny Murphy, Bruce Matthews, Rob Jermyn, Joe O’Leary; Aidan Moynihan, Luke Kerr; David Good, George Good, David Bamidele; Aidan Brien, Josh Daly; Cian Barry, Cian Desmond; Jacob Sheahan. Replacements: Tristan Corkery, Charlie Connolly, James Morrison, Mark Skelly, Louis Kahn, James Keohane, Sean Hudson.

OLD CRESCENT: Glen Kelly; Sean Donnarumma, Dan Hurley, Darragh Casserly, Lochlainn O’Keefe; Ben Davey, Aaron Cosgrave; Joe Rickard, Darragh O’Brien, Rob McGill; Sean Monaghan, Paudie Monaghan; John Toland, James McKeogh; Kevin Doyle. Replacements: Eoghan Quinn, Billy Ryan, Dean O’Grady, Jack O’Neill, Jason Aylward, Larry Hanly, Joe McEnery.