Sport

St Munchin's survive second-half offensive

Munster Schools' Senior Cup Semi-final/St Munchin's 10 Crescent 9: Favourites St Munchin's survived a fierce second-half onslaught…

Thu Mar 02 2006 - 00:00

Munster Schools' Senior Cup Semi-final/St Munchin's 10 Crescent 9: Favourites St Munchin's survived a fierce second-half onslaught from their Limerick neighbours Crescent at Thomond Park yesterday to qualify for the final of the Munster Schools' Senior Cup against CBC or PBC at the same venue on St Patrick's Day.

St Munchin's had the game's most dangerous player in second centre Keith Earls and he scored the only try after a great 65-metre run in the 11th minute which was converted by Richard Mullane. By the interval, a penalty from outhalf Andrew Burke narrowed the gap to 7-3.

While the first half was a pretty tame affair, the game really came to life on the turnover as the Crescent pack gradually gained the upperhand and their speedy back line constantly threatened what crucially turned out to be a well-marshalled St Munchin's defence.

However, Burke's second penalty narrowed the deficit to a single point five minutes after the restart and even though a splendid 40-metre drop goal by Mullane reopened the gap to four points, Crescent weren't in the least perturbed.

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Instead, they peppered the St Munchin's line and looked to have scored a game-breaking try when fullback Seán Scanlon dived over after constant pressure in the 54th minute. However, the perfectly-positioned referee Dermot Moloney ruled that he had lost the ball before he could touch down and awarded a scrum to the defence.

Crescent plugged away and were again out of luck on the hour when scrumhalf Diarmuid Upton was upended by St Munchin's winger Jason Organ after sending a deft chip into the opposing 22. Organ was yellow carded and Burke landed the penalty to reduce the gap to 10-9. Crescent came again but the St Munchin's defence held firm.

ST MUNCHIN'S: J O'Dwyer; J Organ, K Earls, E Broderick, G O'Hanlon; R Mullane, P Rowley; D Hogan, G Slattery, T Burke, C McNamara, J Griffin, L Murphy, J O'Neill, S Hassett. Replacement: M Kelleher for O'Hanlon (70 mins).

CRESCENT: S Scanlon; M Doyle, E Breen, R O'Sullivan, D O'Brien; A Burke, D Upton; E Moylan, J Corrigan, S Henniger, K Hanley, A McCloskey, E Ryan, R Herbert, D Mulcair. Replacement: K Finlayson for Henniger (half-time).

Referee: D Moloney (IRFU).