Garryowen ran in five tries with only one in reply as they eventually disposed of Young Munster with degree of comfort at Tom Clifford Park on Saturday.

However, a 29-13 score-line is hardly a fair reflection of how the day developed for Garyowen struggled for much of the 80 minutes to stamp their authority on a game that was not helped by the very poor condition of the pitch.

Garyowen were relieved at the end that the two points they had accumulated meant that they would finish at the head of the AIB league table, a feat worth £15,000.

"It was no showpiece out there but then we never thought it would be," said Garyowen coach John Hall. "But we have achieved what we set out to do and that was to make the knock out stages. Now it is cup time and it won't harm our prospects that we reached the final last year and so will be able to put that experience to good use."

Hall, however, acknowledged that St Mary's were "probably the best team they met throughout the season", and is expecting a very difficult match.

A 16-point winning margin hardly looked on the cards for Garyowen in the early stages as they were unable to make full use of the strong winds that blew diagonally in their favour. Indeed it was Young Munster who took the lead with a dropped goal by scrum-half Michael Prendergast after 22 minutes but Garyowen responded splendidly with tries by Melvyn McNamara and the very impressive Kevin O'Riordan and led 10-3 at half-time.

Young Munster hit back with an early second-half penalty by Aidan O'Halloran before fullback Dominic Crotty dummied his way over a try which Jeremy Staunton converted. Even then Young Munster refused to give up the fight and they duly struck for arguable the best try of the afternoon from right-winger Denis O'Dowd.

Garyowen came back well again, however, when Paul Hogan forced his way over for their fourth try and then they put the issue out of doubt when Staunton touched down near the post and converted himself.

Scoring sequence: 22 mins.- M Prendergast dropped goal. 0-3; 30 mins - M McNamara try 5-3; 40 mins - K O'Riordan try 10-3. 47 mins - A O'Halloran pen 10-6; 50 mins - D Crotty try, J Stanton con 17-6; 62 mins - D O'Dowd try O'Halloran con 17-13; 66 mins - P Hogan try 22-13; 70 mins - Staunton try and con 29-13.

Garryowen: D Crotty; M McNamara, R Durno, K Hartigan, K O'Riordan; J Staunton, T Tierney; N Hartigan, P Humphreys, R Laffan, R Leahy, D Peters, P Hogan, D Wallace, B Cronin. Replacements: K Ronan for Laffan (half-time); P Cunningham for Humphreys (50 mins).

Young Munster: P Boland; D O'Dowd, N O'Meara, S Cahill, R Larkin; A O'Halloran, M Prnedergast; D Clohessy, M Hayes, M Fitzgerald, D O'Meara, M O'Halloran, D Edwards, G Earls, M Webber. Replacements: F Cusack for Boland (50 mins); H O'Neill and P O'Connell for Earls and D O'Meara (75 mins).

Referee: D McHugh (Munster).