Mike Prendergast’s men beat Shannon 25-13 in a game that sawboth sides field some youthful faces among the more experienced players on eachteam.
The game started out well for Shannon as they opened thescoring with a try by Emmet McLoughlin in the seventh minute, which TadhgBennett converted. Ten minutes later, Willie Staunton got Young Munster’s firstscore from a penalty to make it 7-3. It wasn’t long before the black and amberfaithful were cheering again as the pack showed their dominance by driving overthe line with the touchdown awarded to Sean Duggan on his 21stbirthday. Staunton dutifully converted.
Before the break, winger Aaron Carroll got in for ‘Munsters’second try in a move off the scrum bringing the score to 15-7 at half-time.
Mike Prendergast hadn’t named himself in the squad for thisfixture and instead started last year’s School’s Cup star, 18 year-old BrianHaugh in the number nine jersey. Haugh impressed in his debut start for YoungMunster’s Senior 1st XV.
Into the second half of the game, Young Munster got thefirst score in a penalty from Willie Staunton. Shannon scored two penaltieswithin the next ten minutes making it 18-13 but, if there was any fear that thescoreline would reduce further, this was soon quelled. The pack again showedtheir dominance in an impressive drive which led to Darragh Payne getting infor try number three with a stretch over the line from the bottom of a ruckafter a great carry from Ger Flaherty off the maul. Willie converted to makethe score 25-13 and this is how the score would remain for the final twentyminutes.
Our squad showed great resolve to hold out for the remainderof the game as all the subs made their way off the bench to play their part inthe ‘3-in-a-row’ victory.
Scorers for Young Munster:
Tries: S Duggan, A Carroll, D Payne. Pens: W Staunton (2).Cons: W Staunton (2).
Team: Matthew Costello; Craig O’Hanlon, Mark Doyle, AndrewBurke, Aaron Carroll; Willian Staunton, Brian Haugh; Ger Flaherty, Ger Burke,Hugh McGrath; Shane O’Neill (capt), Sean Duggan; John Moroney, James O’Neill,Neville Melbourne.
Replacements used: Ger Slattery, Donal Murphy, DarraghPayne, Shane Hassett, Darragh O’Neill, Declan Bannon.
