It featured occasionally during last season's congested finale and, given the even greater backlog of matches for this season's run-in, fatigue will play a major part in the final league placings. It was certainly an influence yesterday. Whereas Young Munster found refreshment from a few days doing no more than swimming, Garryowen went to the well one more time but the well had simply run dry. So Dooradoyle, resplendent under brilliant sunshine and swamped by an estimated crowd of 5,000 in a throwback to the halcyon days, experienced something of an anti-climax in terms of a pure contest. Not that the vocal Munsters contingent saw it that way, as the bonus point they accrued took them to third in the table.
Basically, a win over Belfast Harlequins next Saturday, augmented by a bonus point, should ensure them of a semi-final place. Realistically, Garryowen have little chance of joining them now, though in truth this young and relatively light side had excelled in getting this close.
Having lost main points scorer Jeremy Staunton with torn ankle ligaments (out for six weeks) they were further handicapped by the early loss yesterday of Tom Tierney with a shoulder injury. Most of all though they were simply knackered.
True this was a fourth game in 12 days for both sides, but as Young Munster player-coach Matt te Pau generously admitted, they'd had an extra day's respite. Furthermore, they were coming off a disappointing defeat to Terenure whereas Garryowen had pulled off back-to-back one-point wins.
"Let's be honest, what happened to them today happened to us last Tuesday," admitted te Pau. "You can't say who's going to win games at the moment the way they're coming one after the other." That said, Munsters played well, bossing the Garryowen pack in every facet and gradually cutting loose with some scintillating tries. It didn't help Garryowen's cause that they were blown utterly off the pitch by referee Donal Courtney, with the first-half penalty count of 10-1 setting the tone. For a team that needs to play a quick tempo, rucking game this was especially bad news. Courtney only seemed to have eyes for one team when adjudicating the offside line and Garryowen captain Killian Keane, who was waved away dismissively at one point and is normally the most placid of characters, was palpably livid with the officials long before the end.
As frustrations and tempers grew, Eoin Kelly was sin-binned for stamping on Peter Clohessy (which rather confirms the impression that he's a brave boy) and was later joined by Munsters's Dave Peters and John Giltenane for fighting, while David Wallace departed with a nasty gash to his forehead which had Keane in dialogue with both Courtney and linesman Seamus Flannery. "But we were eaten alive there today," Keane conceded in deference to a superior Young Munster force who were methodical in virtually everything they did. They tweaked the scrums if needed, Paul O'Connell laid on a silver salver service off the lineout while their Maori warlords te Pau and Mutu Ngarimu made the hard yards. The influential Mike Prendergast and Mike Lynch, given an armchair ride, ran the show. Initially Munsters were content to go for three points, and three from four penalties by Lynch had them 9-0 and coasting after half an hour. Munsters began turning the screw near the interval when Ngarimu picked and drove infield off a perfectly tweaked scrum. He was initially held up by Cian Foley but, supported by te Pau, he pumped his legs and was driven on again from 15 metres for a try which Lynch converted.
Garryowen tried to make it a bit faster and looser on the resumption, but a counter-attacking infield pass by Kevin O'Riordan to Foley saw the young centre devoured by a hungry Mike Mullins. The Munsters ruckers arrived in droves and te Pau picked up five metres inside his own half to gallop up a largely unattended blind side, swatting away two would-be tacklers and diving extravagantly by the flag. And all in front of the main bulk of visiting fans.
When Shane McCarthy used his feet to clear ruck ball under the nose of Courtney, local touchjudge Dermot Moloney waved his flag to bring play back and, risibly, McCarthy was penalised for foul play. When Kelly was then binned Munsters sensed their chance and from the ensuing close-in lineout Clohessy was mauled over to predictably celebrated approval.
Mullins duly exploded through for a trademark try to clinch the bonus point and there was even a coup de grace from Finbar "Istabraq" Hogan who chipped, chased, hacked on and scored in front of the Young Munster hordes. By Munsters standards, this was almost showboating.
Scoring sequence - 2 mins: Lynch pen 0-3; 11 mins: Lynch pen 0-6; 31 mins: Lynch pen 0-9; 37 mins: Ngarimu try, Lynch con 0-16; 45 mins: te Pau try, 0-21; 71 mins: Clohessy try, Lynch con 028; 78 mins: Mullins try, Lynch con 0-35; 80 mins: Hogan try, Lynch con 0-42.
Garryowen: D Crotty; S Mackay, K Hartigan, C Foley, K O'Riordan; K Keane, T Tierney; N Hartigan, P Humphreys, R Laffan, F Costello, R Leahy, P Neville, J O'Sullivan, D Wallace. Replacements - S McCarthy for T Tierney (15 mins), E Kelly for Neville (45 mins), J Giltenane for Laffan (47 mins), J Brooks for Foley (47 mins), G Walsh for Humphreys (61 mins), Humphreys for Wallace (76 mins). Sin-binned - E Kelly for
Young Munster: M Connolly; F Hogan, M Mullins, L Doyle, C Casey; M Lynch, M Prendergast; P Clohessy, B Cantrell, M Fitzgerald, C Power, P O'Connell, M te Pau, M Ngarimu, K Gallagher. Replacements - D Peters for Power (61 mins), J Rose for Ngarimu (69 mins), D O'Sullivan for Doyle (75 mins), T Lane for Cantrell (79 mins), R Flanagan for Fitzgerald (79 mins), D Reddan for Prendergast (81 mins).
Referee: D Courtney (IRFU).
