The Charity Cup Semi-finals begin tonight

Garryowen will play host to Old Crescent RFC tonight with a 7:30pm kick off in Dooradoyle. Both sides will be brimming with confidence after huge wins last weekend.

Garryowen went into their clash with Young Munster as probably the underdogs, given the seasons each had last year in The Ulster Bank League with Garryowen fighting off relegation and Young Munster finishing third and eventually losing out in the semi final to Clontarf. However, the way that game went, you would have thought it was the other way around. Garryowen produced a great display of rugby eventually coming out as winners on a 45-10 scoreline.

Neighbours Old Crescent will pose a very strong threat to Conan Doyle’s side having comfortably beaten Bruff 55-7 last weekend. Crescent were 43-0 up at half time after a blistering first half performance that effectively put the game to bed. This free scoring Old Crescent side will be a totally different threat to a Young Munster side that could only get over the Garryowen line once for the full 80 minutes last weekend.  The tie on Friday night will be a tight affair with both sides looking to win their first bit of silverware of the season but after seeing their performance against a top Division 1A side last week, you would have to have Garryowen going in as favourites for the All limerick semi-final tie.

In the other semi-final, UL Bohemians make the trip to Nenagh to face Nenagh Ormond on Saturday at 2:30.

Nenagh, like Crescent and Garryowen, had a superb win over last weekend over a young Shannon side. Nenagh are making a habit of winning against big sides early in the season, having beaten Garryowen at the same stage last year. Nenagh might even go into the semi-final against UL Bohs as favourites seeing as they are at home, and they know what it takes to beat sides that are in a higher division than them in the league.Saturday’s tie between the two sides will definitely be an interesting one with the winner getting a chance to win a very tough early season competition.

UL Bohemians sort of went under the radar following last week’s win as it wasn’t as much of an upset as the rest of the games were. Bohs came away with a 19-15 win last Friday night at Fitzgerald park over a Thomond side that essentially didn’t have anything to lose seen as they were really not the favourites for the clash. Only time will tell if this UL Bohemians sides have what it takes to reach the final, but on paper they should be coming away from Nenagh with Final to prepare for.