Tries from Seán O’Brien, Ben O’Connor, Max Clein, Conor Kennelly and Danny Sheahan secured a 31-5 bonus-point victory for Munster A over Ulster A on Friday at a blustery Nenagh Ormond in the Interprovincial Series.
It was another encouraging performance from Gar Prendergast’s side and continues Munster A’s unbeaten first half of the competition after two draws against Leinster A in the opening games.
The game is available to watch back on Access Munster here. The sides will face off again next Friday in Belfast.
Ulster’s Ben Carson was sin-binned for a dangerous clearout on John Hodnett early on with Munster making the extra man count immediately as Tony Butler gave the final pass for O’Brien to score the first try after eight minutes.
Jake O’Riordan created the second Munster try as he picked up a loose ball from an Ulster attck and raced 60 metres before passing for O’Connor to finish. Butler kicked the conversion for a 12-0 lead.
Munster were looking to up the tempo as much as possible and opted to take quick taps from a number of penalties with Andrew Smith and Butler both creating good opportunities but Munster couldn’t convert.
The maul defence from the hosts was excellent in the first half and twice held out Ulster with Michael Foy to the fore in the final minute of the half as he helped stopped the maul. Ulster spread the ball to the backs and O’Brien won a penalty as he was obstucted by a decoy runner.
Ulster made a strong start to the second half and James McKillop scored their first try after 48 minutes with Jonny Scott providing the assist.
Munster showed the power of their attacking maul with the next try on 56 minutes as hooker Max Clein dived over to score.
After another quick tap from Paddy Patterson, Gene O’Leary Kareem nearly scored in the right corner with Shay McCarthy then going close in the left corner before Kennelly eventually finished from close range for the bonus-point try.
O’Connor nearly found Foy with a crossfield kick to the right wing after breaks down the left wing from O’Leary Kareem and McCarthy.
Ruadhan Quinn made a break from the base of a scrum into the Ulster 22 but was eventually stopped by the Ulster defence and the chance came to nothing.
Three late sin-bins for Ulster gave Munster a three-man advantage and Danny Sheahan finished powerfully for Munster’s fifth try in the final play.
On the injury front, John Hodnett and Jake O’Riordan both departed with knocks and will be assessed by the medical department.
Munster A: Ben O’Connor; Andrew Smith (Gene O’Leary Kareem, 58), Fionn Gibbons (Eoghan Smyth, 65), Seán O’Brien, Shay McCarthy; Tony Butler (Dylan Hicks, 65), Jake O’Riordan (Paddy Patterson, 39); Mark Donnelly (George Hadden, 58), Max Clein (Danny Sheahan, 58), Ronan Foxe (Kiern Ryan, 65); Evan O’Connell (C) (Rory Woods, 58), Conor Ryan; Michael Foy, John Hodnett (Conor Kennelly, 19), Ruadhán Quinn.