Good win for Young Munster Women in AIL
Young Munster Women’s Senior Rugby team got their season up and running last weekend with a win over Ballincollig RFC in the All Ireland League Division 2 South. Despite missing a few players due to injury, Young Munster got off to a great start on 6 minutes when the ball was moved down the blindside after a scrum and Michelle Whelan crossed the line to touch down making the score 5-0. Unfortunately Sam Mc Carthy missed a very difficult conversion attempt.
Young Munster then started to dominate the exchanges but on 12 minutes Ballincollig scored a try against the run of play and their outhalf slotted over the conversion leaving the score at 5-7.
After 19 minutes Ballincollig were penalised for going in at the side of a ruck and Sam McCarthy landed the resulting penalty leaving the score at 8-7 in Young Munster’s favour.
At the start of the 2nd half Young Munster came out all guns blazing and 2 minutes after the restart, Ciara Griffin, celebrating her recent call up to the Munster Women’s panel, burst through the middle of the Ballincollig defence to score a great try under the posts and Sam Mc Carthy converted to take the score to 15-7.
Young Munster continued to dominate possession and territory but some dogged defensive work by Ballincollig kept the score at 15-7 until the 72nd minute when Young Munster were awarded a penalty on the half way line. Sarah Quin looked up and with a terrific crossfield kick found Sam McCarthy racing up the right wing. Sam picked up the ball and raced away to score a great try under the posts which she then converted to put the score at 22-7.
The next 8 minutes were dominated with injury stoppages and just on the final whistle Ballincollig got in on the wing to score a try which was not converted. The final score was 22-12. It would be very unfair to single out any particular player because this was a tough physical game and every player gave their all to put Young Munster on 5 points after picking up a losing bonus point last week against New Ross. The next Young Munster game is v Portlaoise on Sunday 14th Oct away. As always new members are always welcome.
Final score: Young Munster 22 – 12 Ballincollig
By Ailish Quinlan
