St Munchin's scored a nail-biting single-point victory over their Limerick rivals Crescent in a superb semi-final of the Munster Schools' Senior Cup at Thomond Park yesterday.
St Munchin's held the whip-hand for much of the game and led by 15-6 with 20 minutes remaining. However, they appeared to run out of steam and Crescent finished much the stronger and indeed would have snatched victory had a last-minute penalty by outhalf Brian O'Shea not been swept inches wide of an upright.
Tries by Francis Broderick and Andrew Howard and a conversion by Brian Carroll against two penalties by O'Shea put St Munchin's 12-6 ahead at the interval. Carroll and O'Shea exchanged penalties in the second half. In the fourth minute of stoppage time, winger Donal O'Flynn got over for a Crescent try; but O'Shea was unable to add the vital points.
ST MUNCHINS: A Kilcoyne; F O'Dea, B Deady, B Cahill, C O'Doherty; B Carroll, A Howard; D Collins, R O'Connor, S Deady, F Broderick, A Buckley, D O'Dwyer, E Nihill, M Carroll. Replacements: T O'Donovan for B Deady; N Dodd for Cahill; A Guiry for Collins.
CRESCENT: D O'Kane; D O'Flynn, B Tuohy, C Reddan, D McCarthy; B O'Shea, D Harris; J Keays, A Geoghegan, M Slattery, M Ryan, A Newman, D Upton, E Griffin, B Woulfe. Replacements: E Maguire for McCarthy.
Referee: S Flannery (Munster).
