Healy Emerges As Last-Minute Hero For 14-Man Munster

14-man Munster produced an extraordinary comeback to secure a rousing 30-27 Guinness PRO14 first round win over the Scarlets in the incessant rain at Parc y Scarlets this afternoon.

Academy out-half Ben Healy kicked a fantastic 50-metre penalty to win the game in the final play, Leaving it late, Munster turned in an outstanding final 13 minutes that saw Chris Farrell and Kevin O’Byrne score tries with Healy landing both conversions and the match-winning penalty.

There was also time for Peter O’Mahony to be shown a second yellow card and then a red following Farrell’s try, but 14-man Munster refused to lie down and mounted a stunning fight-back against the Leigh Halfpenny-inspired Scarlets.

Speaking after the dramatic conclusion to the first round clash, Munster boss Johann van Graan said: “Obviously very happy that Ben kicked it over. He’s got a big boot on him and we were pretty confident – we had the wind behind us in the second half – that he would kick it.

“That’s a dream for a fly-half to have those kicks and to kick it over. But our discipline was very poor during the game. We spoke about it at half-time and somethings we did better.

“I think the bench made a good impact. Our execution wasn’t great, difficult conditions but (it’s a) positive that we scored three tries-to-zero against a pretty good attacking outfit. But the main thing is discipline and execution.

“The fact that we could come here and get four points against Scarlets away, in the big picture that’s huge. You have to win away against top-quality teams, and we see the Scarlets in our pool as a top-quality team.”

Wales star Halfpenny, who set a new Scarlets regional PRO14 record by kicking all 27 points, began the day with three sure-footed penalties for a 9-0 lead inside the opening 25 minutes.

Munster’s disappointing start in the damp conditions, save for some thumping tackles from big centre Farrell, was compounded by captain O’Mahony’s sin-binning for an illegal entry when he charged into a ruck.

14-man Munster were back in it when Jack O’Donoghue finished off a terrific team move. Running back a Scarlets kick, Mike Haley offloaded for Andrew Conway to break away down the right. He drew a defender before releasing Damian de Allende who popped off for the supporting O’Donoghue to score.

JJ Hanrahan landed the tricky conversion to make it a two-point game, but the Kerry native was off target with his first penalty attempt just before half-time. By that stage Halfpenny had fired over his fourth successful penalty for a 12-7 scoreline.

The 31-year-old full-back started the second half as he ended the first when Munster were again pinged by referee Sam Grove-White at the breakdown. Hanrahan hit back in the 48th minute, closing the gap to 15-10 until Halfpenny hammered home two more penalties.

Healy, Jeremy Loughman and Fineen Wycherley were all sent on approaching the hour mark, but the Tipperary-born out-half was next to fall foul of the referee’s whistle and Halfpenny stepped up to make it 24-10 with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining.

It was then when Munster made vital inroads, Craig Casey releasing Farrell on a strong run to the try-line from 10 metres out. He got the ball down under pressure from Steff Hughes and Jake Ball, the latter receiving a shoulder from a diving O’Mahony which earned him his second yellow and his dismissal from the game.

Healy converted but O’Mahony’s indiscretion saw play restart with a penalty on halfway which Halfpenny drilled over to steady the Scarlets at 27-17. Still, the Munstermen had other ideas and a long-range Healy strike got them back within a converted score.

Driven on by a de Allende burst, the visitors mustered a levelling try when replacement hooker O’Byrne was accurate at a close-in lineout and crashed over from a well-executed maul. Healy coolly sent over the conversion to make it 27-all.

The momentum was now with Munster in the dying minutes, and when Scarlets’ James Davies was guilty of not releasing near halfway, up stepped the 21-year-old Healy to drive home the biggest kick of his professional career so far.