St Munchin's College undone late on in Munster Schools Junior Cup semi-final

ST Munchin's College's hopes of reaching this season's Munster Schools Junior Cup final were dashed late on in a 17-21 defeat to holders PBC, of Cork, in their semi-final fixture played at Thomond Park on Wednesday.

St Munchin's, who shared the unfinished Junior Cup in 2020 having reached the final, looked well place to return to the showpiece U16 decider when building a significant 17-0 lead against their Cork opponents.

The Corbally side, who had defeated Crescent College Comprehensive in their previous outing, got off to the best possible start when winger Alex Quinn dotted down for a 5-0 lead.

St Munchin's pressed hard in a bid to increase their lead with a second try soon after, but were held up over the Pres' tryline

The Limerick side were to be denied, however, and after PBC were reduced to 14 players following a sin-binning, Quinn struck for his second try, with out-half Oisin Madden also adding the extras for 12-0 at half-time.

The St Munchin's lead was out to 17 points when Quinn completed his hat-trick of tries shortly after the restart.

However, that score proved to be the final points as Pres' fought their way back. The Cork side opened their account with a try off a maul, scored by Fionn O’Sullivan, before PBC struck for a second try through Bobby O’Callaghan.

Both five-pointers were converted by winger Daniel Murphy to leave three points between the sides 17-14.

Pres' then struck for what proved to be the match-winning try with five minutes remaining when O'Sullivan dotted down for the second time, with Murphy adding the conversion.

PBC will now face Ardscoil Ris in the Munster Schools Junior Cup final at Thomond Park later this month.

St Munchin’s College: Ryan Angley, Adam Naughton, Adam McGlynn, Brendan Minogue, Alex Quinn, Oisin Madden, Darragh Dillon; Calum Kirwan, Adam O’Shaughnessy, Donnacha Colgan, Cillian McGrath, Eoin Coughlan, Ciaran Howard, Paddy Dowling, Dan Foley. Replacements: Zaid Alkhous, Michael Landers, Cian Gibbons, Adam Burke, Alex Mitchell, Jack Meaney, Paddy O’Driscoll, Brian Carr, Denis O’Driscoll, Josh Aylmer.

PBC: Sé Clarke, Daniel Murphy, Daniel Mellerick, Charles Hill, Luke Neenan, Olan Healy, Frankie Og Sheahan; Diarmuid Sheehy, Joseph Healy, Fionn O’Sullivan, Olan Dillon, Cathal Bruhn, Conor McLoughlin, Cormac Bohan, Tom Murray. Replacements: Ronan Twomey, Rory Cahill, Sam O’Leary, Daniel Ryan, Mikey Fitzgerald, Rian Macfarlane O’Shea, Dan O’Leary, Eddie Dooley, Michael Brown, Bobby O’Callaghan.

Referee: Tomas O’Sullivan