Thurles RFC vs. Young Munster RFC – Munster Junior Cup

Thurles RFC 17 – 23 Young Munster

Thurles welcomed Young Munster to Loughtagalla on Sunday last for what was a highly anticipated Munster Junior Cup clash. The home side were looking to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games on the trot but were not going to find it easy against a side steeped with players who have lined out in the AIL this season.

The Limerick side kicked the game off on what was a wet and windy day that you felt would play havoc with keeping the ball in hand. In the opening quarter, it was Thurles trying to play all the rugby but found themselves on the tail end of extremely harsh refereeing decisions at ruck and scrum time in spite of the travelling team being the root of problem.

Young Munster made full use of their advantages, and through the power of their pack, forced their way over the Thurles line to open the scoring with their Out-Half adding the extras for the full complement after the 10 minute mark, 0-7. Thurles continued to battle on from the kick-off but a series of inconsistent penalty decisions especially against the Thurles front row who seemed to be well on top of their opponents, saw Young Munster bring play within the Thurles 22 again.

Thurles were becoming wise to the Limerick sides tactics and were excellent in defence when called upon but just as it seemed that the home side had turned the ball over through the hard work of Shane Moloney coming through the middle of the ruck and driving the opposition off the ball, there was a loud blast of the whistle and with that a yellow card flashed to the Thurles centre, much to the bemusement of the large crowd in attendance.

Following more great defensive play from this Thurles side, Young Munster eventually made use of their numerical advantage, crashing in under the posts to bring the score to 0-14 to this senior second’s side. Despite this setback, Thurles didn’t let the heads drop, they continued to bring the fight to the opposition, with Adrian Bourke on the wing and pack members Colm Skehan and Phil Kelly making great yards into the black & amber territory.

Young Munster were awarded a scrum following a knock on from a Thurles player, but it was from here that the home side started to lay their marker down, the front row of McCormack, Dave Kelly & Skehan did what they have done to sides all season and drove their opposite numbers off the ball and won the scrum against the head, Joey Kelly at Number 8 picked from the back of the back and ploughed through the Young Munster Out-half as he made his into the red zone.

The pack came rushing around the corner to the aid of Kelly and after a number of phases in tight, the backs showed great hands with Eoghan O’Dwyer battling his way over in the corner, John Lillis slotted the conversion excellently from the corner for the maximum, 7-14. Thurles came close to reigning in the score just before half time but were unlucky, when contact was made the bar slid out of a Thurles players grasp like a bar of soap when about to set up another attack, the ball landed into a grateful Young Munster players hands who booted the ball to touch to bring an end to a fiery half of play.


The second half kicked with a similar pattern to the first, Thurles looking to play all the rugby but the lopsided penalty count continued to favour the men in black and amber, in the proceeding 20 minutes, they added three kickable penalties through the boot of the Out-half to extend their lead to 7-23.

At this stage of the game and with tempers boiling over on both sides on a number of occasions it would have been very easy for Thurles to drop the heads and lose focus, but huge credit must go to this team who kept fighting and kept trying to play the game that has brought them so much success so far this season. After a long period of dominance and pressure in the opposition 22, Thurles were awarded a scrum, with great support from the back 5, the Thurles front continued to do a number of their opposite numbers to set a platform for Joey Kelly and Nicky Irwin to send Adrian Bourke in over the corner, the difficult conversion was missed but Thurles were back in with a shout with 10 minutes left to play, 12-23.

Thurles received the ball back from the kick off with Skehan powering his way back up the field towards the Clubhouse end, the ball reached Joey Kelly who in turn popped to Aidan Dwyer who spotted a gap and raced down the field before placing a grubber kick in behind the cover, which forced the Full back to kick it out 2 metres from the line or risk picking and been driving back over the try line by the oncoming Thurles chasers.

Thurles secured their own lineout and continued to put pressure on the Young Munster defence, making their way closer the posts, as Dave Kelly, Paddy Phelan and Larry O’Gorman made good headway in attack. Thurles were awarded a scrum inside the 22 and as play developed, Nicky Irwin was dangerously dump tackled much to the anger of his team mates and large home support, the Referee initially flashed a deserved red card to the offending player but shockingly downgraded the card to yellow before the player had left the field.

Thurles once again took this decision on the chin and concentrated on the job in hand and were awarded for their patience again as Eoghan O’Dwyer found his way over for his second try of the game but unfortunately for Thurles as the conversion was taken by wind, the clock had run down and this was to be the final play of the game.

Thurles can take great heart from this display and be very proud of their efforts, they produced a brand of rugby that was a pleasure to witness on a wet and windy day with a lot of elements against them throughout.

This result now ends Thurles progress in the Junior Cup as they now turn their attention back to the League, as we welcome Ballincollig to Loughtagalla next Sunday 28th February in what is one of our last four League games as the promotion push continues.

The players and management would like to extend its thanks to all those who turned up to support the team on Sunday, it was great to see so many past players adding to the occasion and giving great encouragement when events were going against us on the field, we hope to see everyone again this Sunday, the support as always is greatly appreciated.

Thurles Scorers: Eoghan O’Dwyer (2 Tries), Adrian Bourke (1 Try), John Lillis (1 Conversion).
Thurles Squad vs Young Munster: 1. Ger McCormack 2. Dave Kelly 3. Colm Skehan 4. Phil Kelly 5. Luke Kelly 6. Ciaran Ryan 7. Paddy Phelan 8. Joey Kelly 9. Nicky Irwin 10. John Lillis 11. Peter Coman 12. Shane Moloney 13. Aidan Dwyer 14. Adrian Bourke 15. Eoghan O’Dwyer 16. Shane Nugent 17. Rory O’Dwyer 18. Dwayne Stanley 19. Larry O’Gorman 20. Ross Crystal.