Cookies End 20-Year Wait For Munster Crown
Out-half Alan Kingsley tallied up 17 points and team captain Ger Slattery grabbed the decisive try as Young Munster beat UCC to lift the Munster Senior Cup for the first time since 1990.
ODM MUNSTER SENIOR CUP FINAL: Saturday, April 17
UCC 13 YOUNG MUNSTER 22, Musgrave Park
Scorers: UCC: Try: Andrew Burke; Con: Andrew Burke; Pens: Andrew Burke, Brian Derham
Young Munster: Try: Ger Slattery; Con: Alan Kingsley; Pens: Alan Kingsley 4; Drop: Alan Kingsley
Mike Prendergast’s side completed an excellent season for the Young Munster club, adding the Munster Senior Cup to the Limerick Charity Cup they won earlier in the season.
Allied to their promotion to AIB League Division 1A for next season, Prendergast and his fellow coaches can afford to sit back now and reflect on a campaign full of progress and positivity.
The Cookies have certainly come a long way in the space of a year. Twelve months ago, they avoided relegation from the top tier of th AIB League when Prendergast’s drop goal from inside his own half bounced off the crossbar and over to secure a vital 17-14 win over UCD.
In Saturday’s provincial decider, Munsters claimed a deserved victory over UCC to win the title for the sixth time in their history.
It was also their third win over UCC this season but this time the result was more convincing than the two narrow victories in AIB League Division 1B.
It was the boot of out-half Alan Kingsley that proved the difference as he contributed 17 points of the Young Munster total.
The Laois native opened the scoring with a drop goal after five minutes but Andrew Burke, who helped the UCC Under-21s win last weekend’s All-Ireland final, put the Cork students ahead with a converted try five minutes later.
Two penalties by Kingsley, as against one from former Ireland Under-20 out-half, Burke, left the game tantalisingly poised at 10-9 in UCC’s favour at half-time.
Kingsley kicked his third penalty, four minutes after the break, to put the Limerick side ahead but Brian Derham, who took over the place-kicking duties for the injured Burke, restored the ‘College side’s one-point advantage with a 56th minute penalty.
However, Munsters dominated the final quarter, coming to the fore as Prendergast and Kingsley kept their industrious pack on the move.
UCC tired slightly and a fourth penalty from Kingsley, along with a timely converted try from captain Ger Slattery seven minutes from time, ended the Limerick side’s 20-year wait to bring the famous trophy back to Tom Clifford Park.
UCC: Willie Walsh; Brian Derham, Brian Dennehy, Ivan Dineen (capt), Colin Crowley; Andrew Burke, Brian Slater; Gavin Duffy, Andrew Cudmore, John Ryan, Mike Lenihan, Phillip Donnellan, David O’Callaghan, Brian O’Callaghan, Shane O’Sullivan.
Replacements used: Ronan O’Sullivan for Burke (50 mins), Bryan Cagney for Duffy, Rob Barry for O’Sullivan (both 61).
YOUNG MUNSTER: Ian Cross; Aaron Carroll, Derek Corcoran, Clem Casey, Ray Moloney; Alan Kingsley, Mike Prendergast; Ger Flaherty,Ger Slattery (capt), Alan Cotter, Shane O’Neill, Darragh Payne, Liam Og Murphy, Shane Hassett, Nville Melbourne.
Replacements used: James O’Neill for S O’Neill, Ger Burke for Flaherty (both 50 mins), Ken Hanley for Murphy (64).
Referee: Trevor Collins (Munster)