Munster Junior Cup
Bandon 24 Kanturk 19.
Bandon: Olan Crowley; Christian Mulcahy; Jerry Crowley; Ray Naea; Gearoid Crowley;
Chris Laidler; Richie Walsh; Aidan Slattery; Mike Murphy; Tim Crowley; Colin Jackson;
Des Prendergast; Scott Kingston; Tom Ferguson (c); Dan Swithenbank.
Subs: Ross Bateman; JP Lucey; Cian Buttimer; Kevin Lucey; Gearoid O’Leary.
Bandon made a stuttering start to their Junior Cup campaign away to Kanturk last Sunday.
As Kanturk are now a senior Club, it was their second string who the West Cork side faced in
this first round clash. Indeed the away side started brightly when Richard Walsh scored a
typical solo try, when taking a quick tap penalty and scorching past the cover to score. He
added the conversion himself. He was then uncharacteristically off target with a difficult
penalty attempt but made up for it minutes later when he extended his side’s lead to 10-00.
Although clearly in control, the visitors had cause to be concerned, as Kanturk appeared able
to stretch them at will with the little possession they had, only for an errant pass or poor
kicking option to nullify their attacks. A Bandon lineout win was brought to ground but the
subsequent pop pass was intercepted by the Kanturk scrum half who raced away to score a try
against the run of play. The conversion was missed. However Bandon quickly regained
control and a series of drives by the forwards saw Aidan Slattery stopped short of the line,
with Dan Swithenbank picking and going from the ensuing ruck to touch down. Walsh’s
conversion made it 17-05 at the break.
Bandon scored shortly after the resumption of the second period, when an attempt to run from
their own ’22 saw Kanturk spill possession. Ray Naea picked up the loose ball and popped to
Christian Mulcahy who raced under the posts to score. Walsh again converted to make it 24-
05. At this point it looked as if Bandon would win easily but the heavy underfoot conditions,
along with a superb effort by the Kanturk pack saw the majority of the game played in
Bandon’s half. A series of scrums near the Bandon line eventually saw the ball spun out to
the home backs where a cleverly worked move saw them go in under the posts with fifteen to
go. Despite conceding a further converted try with the last play of the game, defeat was
never on the cards for Bandon and they now play Cobh at home in the next round on the 31
st
January.
This performance will have to be greatly improved upon as next week their league
programme resumes, when last year’s champions Clonmel come to Old Chapel. Nothing but
a win will suffice if Bandon are to retain their outside hopes of winning the league. Kick off
2:30.
