Connacht ‘A’ followed up on their recent 13-6 victory at the Sportsground by outscoring Munster ‘A’ by a four-point margin in a competitive encounter at Garryowen FC.
‘A’ INTERPROVINCIAL MATCH: Thursday, September 20
MUNSTER ‘A’ 15 CONNACHT EAGLES 19, Dooradoyle
Scorers: Munster ‘A’: Tries: Duncan Casey, Barry O’Mahony; Con: Scott Deasy; Pen: Scott Deasy
Connacht Eagles: Try: Jerome Harimate; Con: Tadhg Leader; Pens: Tadhg Leader 4
Hosts Munster ‘A’ were behind 10-3 at half-time with an opening try from Connacht Eagles centre Jerome Harimate, converted by Tadhg Leader, setting the westerners on their way.
Six minutes in, Eagles full-back Steve Macauley took a quick tap and set off on a superb run which took him into the home 22.
The Connacht men recycled quickly and a couple of phases later, Eoghan Grace’s pass sent former Connacht Junior player Harimate over to the left of the posts.
Leader, a big influence for the visitors at out-half, kicked a penalty to extend the lead in the 21st minute before Scott Deasy got Munster ‘A’ on the scoreboard six minutes later.
Deasy missed two further penalty chances in the second half before a Munster ‘A’ maul powered over the try-line with replacement hooker Duncan Casey claiming the spoils.
It was all level with Deasy adding the 58th minute conversion, but Nigel Carolan’s Connacht side were quick to pull away again after two successive Leader penalties after 62 and 70 minutes.
Munster ‘A’ once again kept it tight with the pack making the hard yards down the left wing and Barry O’Mahony found himself on the end of a good move for the home side’s second try.
A missed conversion denied Munster ‘A’ the lead as they battled into the final minutes a point behind at 16-15.
On the cusp of their first British & Irish Cup campaign, the Eagles showed admirable composure as they completed a notable double over their Munster counterparts thanks to a final Leader penalty from in front of the posts.
Speaking afterwards, Connacht Eagles head coach Nigel Carolan said: “We are obviously very happy with the outcome of the game but also in the manner with which we played.
“We were very efficient in our use of possession, which kept the scoreboard ticking over, but we also had to endure a lot of pressure in defence, particularly in the second half.
“While there were some excellent individual performances, the result of the game was testament to an effective team contribution. We can now look forward with confidence to kicking off the British & Irish Cup in October on the back of two wins out of two outings.”
MUNSTER ‘A’: Johnny Holland; Ronan O’Mahony, Corey Hircock, Cian Bohane, Darren Moroney; Scott Deasy, Cathal Sheridan (capt); David Kilcoyne, Sean Henry, John Ryan, Philip Donnellan, Cathal O’Flaherty, Brian Hayes, Barry O’Mahony, Shane Buckley.
Replacements: Duncan Casey, James Cronin, Christy Condon, James Murphy, Sean Rennison, Neil Cronin, Richie Mullane, David Johnson (Rockwell).
CONNACHT EAGLES: Steve Macauley; Conor Finn, Jerome Harimate, Finn Gormley, Matt Healy; Tadhg Leader, Marcus Walsh; Finlay Bealham, Kurt Haupt, JP Conney, Jonathan Gardiner, Daniel Qualter, Thomas Anderson (capt), Eoghan Grace, Dave Heffernan.
Replacements: Peter Reilly, Jamie Dever, Robert Sweeney, Conor Kindregan, Aaron Conneely, Chris Lilly, Sam Johnson, Callum Boland.
Referee: Paul Haycock (IRFU)
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