Agonising weekend for Limerick clubs in men's All-Ireland League action

HAVING fallen into Division 1A’s bottom two after UCD won at Lansdowne, Young Munster lifted themselves up to seventh in the table with the perfect response to last week’s gut-wrenching defeat to Cork Constitution.

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With a strong wind behind them, Young Munster built a 22-0 half-time lead at Lakelands Park thanks to a snappy McCarthy brace and further scores from Australian centre Luke McCready and Hubert Gilvarry.

Ger Slattery’s side, who had lost their last two games, were outmuscling the hosts up front, aided by the presence of Munster’s Evan O’Connell, Conor Bartley, and Luke Murphy. Prop Kieran Ryan came on for the closing stages.

Terenure had the Leinster trio of Caspar Gabriel, John McKee, and Josh Kenny in their starting XV, but could not avoid their second successive loss, even being held scoreless during Stephen McLoughlin’s sin-binning.

It was a shrewd performance from the Cookies, who sealed the deal with a penalty try. Terenure were down to 13 men for a short period with Marcus Hanan and Chris Cosgrave both sin-binned, either side of the hour mark.

Carlos Spencer’s charges rallied with three late tries, two from Aran Egan and one from Gabriel. Their sustained pressure also saw O’Connell sin-binned, but they fell short of taking something tangible out of the game.

Recent Leinster debutant Kenny made his debut for Terenure, and made an early break from deep. Young Munster regained those lost metres with a subsequent maul turnover and good kicking.

The Cookies’ reliable lineout was the launchpad for an opening 14th minute score. They worked the ball across to the left where McCarthy, fed by Gilvarry, expertly spun out of a tackle from Max Russell to touch down.

Terenure had the field position to muster a quick-fire response, yet McCarthy made an important tackle on Russell – with an overlap to exploit – and McKee was held up by Ajae Hanson and Bailey Faloon from a five-metre tap penalty.

Munsters failed to profit from John Poland’s 50:22 kick, with Terenure captain Luke Clohessy collecting turnover ball. However, McCarthy completed his brace with a simple 25th-minute run-in, set up by Poland’s long pass during a penalty advantage.

Following Shane O’Leary’s well-struck conversion from out wide, the visitors hit another gear in attack. Kelvin Langan’s crisp kick receipt led to McCready bumping off a tackle and then finishing smartly from a McCarthy pass at the end of a pacy break.

Gabriel had been coming in for some treatment from Munsters, and a late tackle on the Leinster Academy talent saw McLoughlin carded. Terenure attacked out wide but left without points, as Kenny went off his feet at a ruck.

The Limerick men ended the opening half with their bonus point effort. O’Leary was wide with a monster penalty attempt, before Fionn Gibbons sucked in two defenders for top try scorer Gilvarry to run in his ninth try of the campaign, bouncing up out of a tackle to ground the ball.

Munsters’ defence stood firm on the resumption, despite the brief injury-enforced absence of captain Alan Kennedy. His second row partner, O’Connell, led some excellent maul defence, and wily scrum-half Poland was becoming more prominent as a sniping threat.

A McCready turnover penalty was the start of an indisciplined spell from Terenure, who lost prop Hanan to the bin for collapsing a maul. When Gilvarry injected pace into a move, and O’Leary looked destined to score in the right corner, Cosgrave’s no-arms tackle added to the hosts’ woes.

Referee Padraic Reidy awarded Young Munster a penalty try and sin-binned the ‘Nure winger. The Dubliners managed to get off the mark with 13 minutes remaining, getting the ball out to the left for Egan to dot down.

‘Nure suddenly had some wind in their sails, holding onto the momentum for out-half Gabriel to scramble over from his own quickly-taken penalty. He tagged on the extras for a 29-12 scoreline.

O’Connell’s yellow for a maul infringement preceded Egan’s clever finish from close range, with two minutes left. There was no denying Munsters, though, as they followed up on last season’s double over Terenure, which included March’s 20-12 triumph at Lakelands.

In Division 1B, Garryowen fell to a 24-19 defeat to Naas in Dooradoyle. The Limerick side were well in the game at the interval, trailing 14-12 but a strong second half showing from the Kildare side saw them over the line.

In Division 2A, Old Crescent were defeated 20-18 by Dungannon in Takumi Park. The home side were in the ascendency at half time, leading 11-3 but a strong second half display from the Tyrone men saw them over the line in a two-point win. 

Also in Division 2A, Shannon fell to a narrow three-point loss to Wanderers at Merrion Park. The Limerick side trailed 15-12 at the break and were unable o make up ha ground in he second half, eventually losing out on a scoreline of 25-22.

In Division 2B, UL Bohemian almost staged the most miraculous of comebacks against Malone at Gibson Park. Bohemians looked dead and buried at the break, trailing by 17 on a scoreline of 20-3.

The Limerick side showed plenty of fight in the second half but ultimately came up short on a scoreline of 30-29. 

In Division 2C, Thomond RFC's clash with Midleton at Liam Fitzgerald Park was postponed. 

Bruff took on Clonmel at Ard Gaoithe and just like many of the sides from the Treaty County this weekend, narrowly lost, on a scoreline of 22-20.

Nothing could separate the sides at the break, with the sides locked at 8-8. It was a competitive second half between the two sides with the Tipperary men just coming out on top. 

ENERGIA ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE MEN’S DIVISIONS – ROUND 8:

DIVISION 1A:

YOUNG MUNSTER 26 TERENURE COLLEGE 19, Lakelands Park

Scorers: Terenure College: Tries: Aran Egan 2, Caspar Gabriel; Cons: Caspar Gabriel 2
Young Munster: Tries: Shay McCarthy 2, Luke McCready, Hubert Gilvarry, Penalty try; Cons: Shane O’Leary, Pen try con

HT: Terenure 0 Young Munster 22

YOUNG MUNSTER: Shane O’Leary; Hubert Gilvarry, Fionn Gibbons, Luke McCready, Shay McCarthy; Kelvin Langan, John Poland; David Begley, Stephen McLoughlin, Conor Bartley, Alan Kennedy (capt), Evan O’Connell, Ajae Hanson, Bailey Faloon, Luke Murphy.

Replacements: Christian Foley, Kieran Ryan, Leo Langbridge, Jake O’Riordan, Harry Langbridge, Alex Flanagan Smith.

TERENURE COLLEGE: Chris Cosgrave; Josh Kenny, Pa Ryan, Aran Egan, Adam La Grue; Caspar Gabriel, Will Reilly; Marcus Hanan, John McKee, Adam Tuite, Sean Rigney, Dave Maher, Harrison Brewer, Max Russell, Luke Clohessy (capt).

Replacements: Karl O’Brien, Luke Rigney, Darragh Brooks, Locky Wardick, Griffin Culver, Ed Kelly.

DIVISION 1B:

GARRYOWEN 19 NAAS 24

HT: Garryowen 12 Naas 14

GARRYOWEN: Fionn Rowsome; JJ O’Neill, Alex Wood, Jack Delaney, Daniel O’Connell; Tom Wood, Luca Cleary; George Hadden, Max Clein, Ben Leahy, Jack Costello, Rory Woods, Des Fitzgerald (capt), Billy Hayes, Sean Rennison.

Replacements: Johnny Byrne, Mark Fitzgerald, Thymo Peters, James Houlihan, Harry Chittick, Lachlan Stewart.

NAAS: Jack Sheridan; Donal Conroy, Charlie Sheridan, Dylan O’Keeffe, David O’Sullivan; Paddy Taylor, Tadhg Brophy; Stephen Lackey, Brad Clements, Adam Deay, James O’Loughlin, James Stockwood, Oisin Halpin, Will O’Brien (capt), Eoin Walsh.

Replacements: Tadhg Dooley, Callum Coyne, Darragh Murphy, Muiris Cleary, Cormac King, Fionn O’Hara.

DIVISION 2A:

OLD CRESCENT 18 DUNGANNON 20

HT: Old Crescent 11 Dungannon 3

Old Crescent: John Hurley, Jack O’Mahony, Brian Molloy, Darragh Long, Dan Hurley, Jeff Williams, Gary Fitzgerald, Joe Rickard, Niall Hardiman (capt), Dennis O’Dwyer, John Toland, Oisin Toland, Cillian Toland, ⁠James McKeogh, Jack Dineen.

Replacements: Colin Kelly, Evan Creaven, John Lyons, Joe McEnery, Timmy Duggan.

Dungannon: Jack Girvan, Charlie Conroy, James Girvan, Andrew McGregor, Toby Gribben, Peter Nelson, Alex Johnston, James Gamble, Sam Montgomery, Sean O’Hagan, Cameron Steenson, Peter Nicholl, David Leyburn, Matthew Maguire, Adam Milligan (capt).

Replacements: Ryan Abernethy, Adam Edgar, Ben Connelly, Stephen Todd, Alfie Lewis.

Scorers: Old Crescent: Tries: Niall Hardiman, Joe McEnery, Con: Jeff Williams, Pen: Jeff Williams (x2) Dungannon: Tries: Toby Gribben, Adam Milligan, Alfie Lewis, Pen: Peter Nelson, Con: Peter Nelson

WANDERERS 25 SHANNON RFC 22

HT: Wanderers 15 Shannon RFC 10

Scorers: Wanderers:  Tries: Val McDermott, Mick McGrath, Fionn Finlay, Conversions: Cian Whooley, David Fitzgibbon,
Penalties: David Fitzgibbon 2 Shannon RFC: Joshua Costello, Cian McCann, Darren Gavin, Conversions: Jamie Gavin (x2), 
Penalties: Jamie Gavin.

Wanderers: Val McDermott, Mick McGrath, Deon Mau’u, Louis McDonough (capt), Jordan Conroy, Cian Whooley, Dylan Kelly, Rob Scully, Jamie Kavanagh (capt), Fionn Finlay, Mark O’Reilly, Conor McMenamin, Karl Madden, Dylan Ryan, JJ McIlwrath.

Replacements: Aaron O’Callaghan, Eoghan McCaul, James Kenny, Simon Burke, David Fitzgibbon.

Shannon RFC: Matt Te Pou, Cian O’Halloran, Robbie Deegan, Harry Long (capt), Joshua Costello, Jamie Gavin, Neil Cronin, Michael Donnelly, Jordan Prenderville, Jamie Conway, Samson Alaimoana, Cian McCann, Alex Kennedy, Alex Lautsou, Neal Moylett.

Replacements: Adam Moloney, Shane Carew, Lee Nicholas, Kelvin Brown, Darren Gavin.

DIVISION 2B

MALONE 30 UL BOHEMIAN 29 

HT: Malone 20 UL Bohemian 3

Malone: Davy McMaster, Michael Melville, Ben Gibson, Thomas Quigley, Tane Hotham, Mathew Rae, Dara Gaskin, Ben Halliday, Dan Kerr, Ricky Greenwood, Logan Wakefield, Zach Devine, Jacob Edwards, David Greatorex (capt), Michael Crothers.

Replacements: Sam Green, Bailey Young, Josh Storey, Callum Soper, Josh Pentland.

UL Bohemian: Cian Casey, Joe Johnson, Greg Fitzgerald, Paul Clancy, Darragh O’Gorman (capt), Oisin Fagan, Donnchadh O’Callaghan, Kean Sheehy, Darren Ferrar, Jake Considine, Simon Staunton, Padraic Galvin, Liam Neilan, John Coleman, Jordan Mills.

Replacements: Tom Cullen, Jack Ryan, Seamus Brannagh, Zac O’Loughlin, Liam O’Shanahan

DIVISION 2C 

CLONMEL 22 BRUFF 20

HT: Clonmel 8 Bruff 8

Scorers: Clonmel: Tries: Keith Melbourne, Diarmuid Brannock, Penalty Try, Conversions: Joey O’Connor, Penalty Try.
Penalties: Joey O’Connor. Bruff: Tries: Paul Collins, Wiktor Wilczuk, Mike Frawley, Conversions: Paul Collins, Penalties: Paul Collins

Clonmel: Jack Walsh, Liam Maher, ⁠Michael Connellan, Joey O’Connor, Freddie Davies, Drew Musa, Tom Ross, Sean Sweetman, Brandon Delicato, Tomas Stransky, Keith Melbourne, Diarmuid Brannock, Luke Slattery, Ben Masuku, Tom O’Dea.

Replacements: Davy Coyne, Liam Ryan, Zac Cahalan, Ben O’Dwyer, Henry Buttimer.

Bruff: Paul Collins, Shane Duggan, Patricio Neheun, Andrew O’Byrne, Mike O’Grady, John Bateman, Niall Byrne, Danny Kavanagh, Wiktor Wilczuk, Kieran O’Dwyer, Brendan Gleeson, Pa Maher, Mike Frawley, Aidan Carroll, Cillian Rea.

Replacements: Darragh O’Brien, Tom O’Dwyer, Mark Kennedy, Clem McAuliffe, Ben Tucker.