The Ulster U20s, Ulster U19s and Ulster U18 Clubs were all in action at the weekend... ULSTER U20 17 MUNSTER U20 18 The Ulster U20 team played out a close encounter with their Munster counterparts at Queen's Arena on Friday evening. In a game that could have easily gone either way, it was a relieved Munster team that emerged as 17-18 winners at the whistle. The Munster team took a 0-3 lead when their fullback, David O'Mahony, converted a penalty opportunity with just four minutes on the clock. The game ebbed and flowed with both teams attempting to play positively with the ball in hand. However, the Ulster team was guilty of giving away too many penalties at critical times, which relieved any pressure they were managing to build up against the dogged Munster team. In fact it was the visitors that extended their lead to 0-8 when O'Mahony touched down for an unconverted try close to half time. This spurred the Ulster team into action and Conor Kelly reduced the arrears to 5-8 when he finished off a flowing Ulster attack with just on the half time whistle. In an evenly contested second half the Munster team increased their lead to 15-5 when their impressive number 8, John Foley, took advantage of a well driven rolling maul to cross for the try. O'Mahony added the extras to give the Munster team a more comfortable lead in the third quarter of the game. Ulster then started to control more of the set piece play and were rewarded with a try from Lewis McNamara, when he barged over following good work at an Ulster lineout. Andrew McGrath, who had performed impressively for the duration of the game, added the conversion to reduce the deficit to 12-15. From the restart the Ulster team was penalised and Bill Johnston stepped up to convert the penalty and increase the Munster lead to 18-12 with eight minutes remaining. The Ulster team stormed back into the Munster half and, following a series of plays, a well organised driven maul ended with Matthew Fisher touching down for an unconverted try. Magrath had a superb drop goal effort in the final play of the game but watched in despair as the ball hit the upright, bounced off the cross bar, hit the other upright and bounced back into the field of play. A relieved Munster team cleared the ball into touch and the referee blew for full time. ULSTER U19 13 MUNSTER U19 17 On Saturday there was almost something of a 'deja vu' scenario when the Ulster U19 team met Munster, once again at the superb Queen's Arena complex. The visitors took a 0-5 lead when Sean Ives took advantage of hesitancy in the Ulster defence to touch down with less than a minute on the clock. Ten minutes later the Ulster team reduced the deficit to 3-5 when Gareth Millar was successful with a penalty opportunity following a Munster infringement. Both teams contested the game strongly but there were no further points scored until just before the break when Conor Fitzgerald ran in for a try, which he converted, to give the Munster team a 3-12 lead at the interval. The Munster team started the second half as they had started the first! With less than a minute on the clock their captain, Alex McHenry, scored an unconverted try to increase the Munster U19 lead to 3-17. Despite this setback the Ulster team mounted something of a comeback and started to take control of the game. Andrew McPhillips was on the end of a flowing backline attack to finish off and peg the scoreboard back to 8-17 midway through the second period of play. Both teams made a series of changes and towards the end of the game and it was one of these replacement players, Daniel Coulter, that took advantage of good work from his pack to score another unconverted try. With the score now reading 13-17 in favour of Munster, and little time left, the Ulster team laid siege on the Munster line. Marcus Rea, Jonny McKeown, Zac Jordan, Callum McLoughlin and Josh Jordan all asked questions of the Munster defence but they ...
Women & Girls
Match reports for Age Grade fixtures
7th September 2015
The Ulster U20s, Ulster U19s and Ulster U18 Clubs were all in action at the weekend... ULSTER U20 17 MUNSTER U20 18 The Ulster U20 team played out a close encounter with their Munster counterparts at Queen's Arena on Friday evening. In a game that could have easily gone either way, it was a relieved Munster team that emerged as 17-18 winners at the whistle. The Munster team took a 0-3 lead when their fullback, David O'Mahony, converted a penalty opportunity with just four minutes on the clock. The game ebbed and flowed with both teams attempting to play positively with the ball in hand. However, the Ulster team was guilty of giving away too many penalties at critical times, which relieved any pressure they were managing to build up against the dogged Munster team. In fact it was the visitors that extended their lead to 0-8 when O'Mahony touched down for an unconverted try close to half time. This spurred the Ulster team into action and Conor Kelly reduced the arrears to 5-8 when he finished off a flowing Ulster attack with just on the half time whistle. In an evenly contested second half the Munster team increased their lead to 15-5 when their impressive number 8, John Foley, took advantage of a well driven rolling maul to cross for the try. O'Mahony added the extras to give the Munster team a more comfortable lead in the third quarter of the game. Ulster then started to control more of the set piece play and were rewarded with a try from Lewis McNamara, when he barged over following good work at an Ulster lineout. Andrew McGrath, who had performed impressively for the duration of the game, added the conversion to reduce the deficit to 12-15. From the restart the Ulster team was penalised and Bill Johnston stepped up to convert the penalty and increase the Munster lead to 18-12 with eight minutes remaining. The Ulster team stormed back into the Munster half and, following a series of plays, a well organised driven maul ended with Matthew Fisher touching down for an unconverted try. Magrath had a superb drop goal effort in the final play of the game but watched in despair as the ball hit the upright, bounced off the cross bar, hit the other upright and bounced back into the field of play. A relieved Munster team cleared the ball into touch and the referee blew for full time. ULSTER U19 13 MUNSTER U19 17 On Saturday there was almost something of a 'deja vu' scenario when the Ulster U19 team met Munster, once again at the superb Queen's Arena complex. The visitors took a 0-5 lead when Sean Ives took advantage of hesitancy in the Ulster defence to touch down with less than a minute on the clock. Ten minutes later the Ulster team reduced the deficit to 3-5 when Gareth Millar was successful with a penalty opportunity following a Munster infringement. Both teams contested the game strongly but there were no further points scored until just before the break when Conor Fitzgerald ran in for a try, which he converted, to give the Munster team a 3-12 lead at the interval. The Munster team started the second half as they had started the first! With less than a minute on the clock their captain, Alex McHenry, scored an unconverted try to increase the Munster U19 lead to 3-17. Despite this setback the Ulster team mounted something of a comeback and started to take control of the game. Andrew McPhillips was on the end of a flowing backline attack to finish off and peg the scoreboard back to 8-17 midway through the second period of play. Both teams made a series of changes and towards the end of the game and it was one of these replacement players, Daniel Coulter, that took advantage of good work from his pack to score another unconverted try. With the score now reading 13-17 in favour of Munster, and little time left, the Ulster team laid siege on the Munster line. Marcus Rea, Jonny McKeown, Zac Jordan, Callum McLoughlin and Josh Jordan all asked questions of the Munster defence but they ...