Heartbreak in Dooradoyle

29th September 2008 By Munster Rugby

Having dominated the match in terms of territory and possession, the Munster U19’s Club side were undone by Ulster’s 5th penalty with 2 minutes left in a close fought match in Dooradoyle on Saturday.

In a match that Munster should have won easily, too many lapses crept into the Munster performance in the second half which let Ulster back in the door. Thanks to a superb kicking display by Ulster fullback M. Lawton (5 from 5), Ulster would surely have been dead and buried.

Munster started brightly by controlling possession and territory in the opening quarter. Perhaps with better use of possession, and opting to have a shot at goal on at least one occasion, Munster would not have found themselves scoreless after 20 minutes of the first half.

Solid performances up front from the outstanding backrow of White, Walsh and Swanton, kept Ulster pinned back and set up a number of scoring opportunities. However just execution let them down at the vital moment. As is normal when you don’t take your chances Ulster took the lead with their only chance of the first half, when Lawton landed his 1st penalty on 25 mins.

However this signalled Munster’s best spell in the match, when Brian Walsh crashed over near the posts straight after the re start. O’Flynn added the conversion and Munster were back in business. An intercept try on the stroke of half time by O’Flynn, which he duly converted, put Munster in the driving seat at half time, leading 14 – 3.

The second half continued as the first half had finished, with Munster commanding field position. However they failed to capitalise and Ulster started to chip away at Munster’s lead through 3 penalty goals from Lawton.

With 3 mins to go, Munster were penalised for an off the ball incident and from the resultant penalty, Lawton knocked over what proved to be a winning kick. Munster have every right to feel aggrieved from where the referee marked the penalty, as the incident was clearly outside the 10 metre line.

Unfortunately for Munster this was a very disappointing end to a season which despite a tremendous amount of effort and toil from players and coaches, yielded nothing in terms of victories. However, we can all learn from the experience and particularly players will benefit from the experience of being involved in the provincial set up.

On behalf of myself, I would like to thank Terry and Eugene for all the coaching and effort they put in. Goodness knows they deserved a better slice of luck during the course of the series. To Conor Burke (Physio) for all his effort on getting our walking wounded (players and management!!) back on our feet, a big thank you. To Harry Ryan (Kit Manager), for keeping the show on the road with the bananas and wine gums, not to mention keeping me on the straight and narrow, thanks a million.

Finally, many thanks to Garyowen FC and Cork Constitution for all their support in the use of their facilities over the last 6 weeks.

Best of luck for the rest of the season!

Graham Burns, Manager Munster U19 Clubs

Munster Team
1. JP Cooney (Garyowen)
2. Paul Molloy (Shannon)
3. Jerry O’Brien (UCC)
4. Dean Landy (Carrick-on Suir) Capt.
5. Brian Morrissey (Bruff)
6. Liam Swanton (Clonakilty)
7. Andrew White (Bruff)
8. Brian Walsh (Waterpark)
9. Jack Moloney (Cork Con)
10. Cormac O Flynn (Dolphin)
11. Darren Loftus (Dolphin)
12. Pat Parfrey (UCC)
13. Luke O’Dea (Shannon)
14. Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution)
15. Gavin Nugent (UCC)

Replacements From

Shane Moynihan (Waterpark) for O’Brien 50 mins
Damien Cahalan (Nenagh) for Molloy 55 mins
Chris Corkery (Ballincollig) for JP Cooney 60 mins
Paul Dooley (Garyowen)
Hugh Kelliher (Shannon)
Johnny Buckley (Cork Con)
Andrew O’Leary (Cork Con)