Munsters and Shannon in deep relegation trouble after weekend defeats

Young Munster and Shannon’s game at Tom Clifford Park on April 5 will effectively be a relegation six pointer after both sides lost their respective games to UCC and Terenure last Saturday.

Munsters fell to a 13-10 defeat to UCC at the Mardyke, while Shannon suffered a home loss to bottom placed Terenure at Thomond Park’s back pitch.

There are now just four points between the four teams at the bottom of the Division 1A table with UCC on, Munster’s on 29, Shannon on 28 and Terenure on 27.

Munster’s led 3-0 against UCC at half time thanks to Shane Airey’s penalty, but James Taylor had the Cork side level early in the second half with an effort from the kicking tee.

Taylor then fired UCC into the lead, but Gearoid Prendergast’s men looked to have earned a priceless victory 10 minutes from time thanks to an excellent Luke Fitzgerald try that Airey converted.

However, there was a sting in the UCC tail when Rob Hedderman crossed for UCC, which was converted by Taylor to seal the three point victory.

Shannon’s loss to Terenure was a bitter blow to their survival hopes with ‘Nure coming out victorious on a 18-12 win.

James Thornton kicked Terenure into a the lead before Sam Coghlan-Murray scored his first try of the game. Thornton’s conversion then put ‘Nure 10-0 to the good.

Ronan Coffey got Shannon back into the game with their first try that was brilliantly converted by Ben Daly.

Coghlan-Murray ran in for another try early in the second half and Thornton’s second penalty of the game put ‘Nure 18-7 ahead.

Aran Hehir did manage a second try for Shannon late on, but it came too late and they fell to their sixth loss on the bounce.

It was also a bad weekend for Garryowen’s playoff hopes after losing 29-12 to Clontarf in Dooradoyle.

Two converted tries from Angus Lloyd and Vakh Abaladze saw Clontarf into a 14-0 lead.

A David Joyce penalty and then a superb individual try from Cian O’Donoghue furthered Clontarf’s lead before Garryowen got on the scoreline thanks to a Jamie Gavin try.

Garryowen cut the lead to 12 points when Tommy O’Hora crossed for their second try, but it was Clontarf that had the last laugh when Conor Kelly went in for their bonus point try.

UL Bohs’ hopes of a playoff place in Division 2A also took a hit after a 10-5 defeat to Nenagh Ormond on Friday.

They now sit eight points off fourth placed Queens University. It was a similar story for Old Crescent after their 15-14 loss to Dolphin.

Bruff’s chances of earning a playoff spot from Division 2C got a major boost after following a 31-5 win over Tullamore. The victory put them into third, one point off fourth placed Malahide.

Thomond are now eight points adrift at the bottom of the table after losing 24-10 to Omagh.

In the Women’s AIL, UL Bohs had a 31-14 win over Galwegians in their last regular season fixture.