And not even a hint of a try

When Lansdowne replacement outhalf David Quigley teed up the ball from two feet inside the Young Munster half after 70 minutes, it was a tacit acknowledgment that this game was not going to produce a try. The supporters knew it, the management knew it, and finally, Quigley's attempt showed the players knew it too.

Up to then there had not been even one try-scoring opportunity. Territorial advantage to Young Munster, certainly, but not once did a move look like it would seriously threaten either defensive line.

The closest thing to a frisson of excitement was a threaded kick late in the first half from Young Munster full back Mark Connolly for the charging right wing Tom Cregan. But even that was comfortably smothered by the cover for a five-yard scrum. The match then fell into a miscellany of handling errors, turnovers and little creativity.

"It was a scrappy game. We got no flow at all," said Lansdowne manager Mick Kelly. "There was no fluidity. It was stop, start, stop, start all day. We'd four of last week's pack injured and I think that disrupted us."

Young Munster obviously felt the bite of defeat more acutely, as their handling error count was probably double that of Lansdowne. Captain Mick Lynch did his best to punch holes for the visitors from the centre, and, for the home side, when Quigley arrived after 56 minutes he did enliven business behind the scrum.

But neither team could lift the tempo beyond mediocre. The match puttered along in second gear, and hit third occasionally, but was never within an ass's roar of top gear..

A demonstration of fine touch kicking from both Young Munster scrumhalf Mike Prendergast and full back Mark Connolly shone like a new penny in the fading light, while captaincy obviously suits Lansdowne number eight Colin McEntee, who was central to his side's cohesion. From a positive perspective, it was a kicking game and the kickers performed. Mark Woods and then Quigley shared most of Lansdowne's points, with Dave O'Mahony landing a drop goal, while Tom Cregan booted four for Young Munster and Prendergast snipped a drop goal for the visitors' 15 points.

Scoring Sequence: 2 mins: M Woods pen 3-0; 7: Woods pen 6-0; 13: M Prendergast drop gl 6-3; 19: T Cregan pen 6-6; 22: Woods pen 9-6; 25: Woods pen 12-6; 37: Cregan pen 12-9; 39: D O'Mahony drop gl 15-9. 53: Cregan pen 15-1 2; 55: Cregan pen 15-15; 77: D Quigley pen 19-15; 81: Quigley pen 21-15.

Lansdowne: G D'Arcy; L O'Brien, R Niland, G Hamilton, R Dolan; M Woods, D O'Mahony; D Dornan, O Ennis, E Bohan, S O'Connor, B Cusack, E Collins, A McCullen, C McEntee (capt). Replacements: D Quigley for Woods (56 mins), L Whelan for Hamilton (71 mins), J Duffy for McCullen (71 mins).

Young Munster: M Connolly; T Cregan, L Doyle, M Lynch, C Casey; E Buckley, M Prendergast; E Hann, B Cantrell, M Fitzgerald, D Edwards, P O'Connell, M te Pou, K Gallagher, M Njumiaga. Replacement: D Peters for Edwards (66 mins).

Yellow card: L Doyle (Young Munster) 48 mins.

Referee: A Lewis.