Young Munster were short a number of regulars due to injury and other commitments which necessitated some degree of experimentation on our part.
Kilrush were swiftly out of the blocks and dominated the early exchanges and were rewarded when a defensive mix-up by us saw them touch down under our posts. Kilrush’s ball retention and continuity play was very good and it took us a while to settle into the game, but gradually our line-out gained supremacy and we managed to secure more possession as the game wore on.
A well-rehearsed move from a line-out on the opposition 22 saw prop Jack Finucane cross for a try after 20 minutes. Eoghan Carey and Conor O’Brien were now dominant out of touch and our scrum coped well with a very strong Kilrush pack. We started the second half strongly with telling breaks from Enis Haxhiaj and Kelvin Brosnahan and great support play from the pack. Brendan Kelly got over from close range to put us into the lead. Tadhg Enright made a number of typically darting runs on the left wing and Seamus Rainsford dealt capably at full back. Emmett Connolly and Andrew Savage were also very impressive in our re-shuffled pack.
We had to withstand some concerted pressure from Kilrush in the closing minutes, but our defence was outstanding.
Final score: Young Munster 10 – 7 Kilrush 7
Special thanks to Richard Pilkington and all at Kilrush for making the long trip to this fixture.
YM Team: Seamus Rainsford; Tadhg Enright, Enis Haxhiaj, Kelvin Brosnahan, David Benn; Dean Garvey, Josh O’Donoghue; Jack Finucane, Andrew Savage, Emmett Connolly; Eoghan Cary; Alex O’Callaghan, Calvin McDonagh, Conor O’Brien, Brendan Kelly
