Magners League - ready to go

AFTER a highly-encouraging pre-season campaign, which saw an experimental Munster side beat the Sale Sharks and London Irish, fans of Tony McGahan’s provincial side are eagerly looking forward this week to the opening of the Magners League campaign against the Glasgow Warriors on Friday night at the Firhill Arena (8pm, Setanta Sports).


Although Munster lost (28-34) to the Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Friday night last Munster have begun this season in rude good form and a bumper crowd is expected for the first home game against the Cardiff Blues at Limerick’s Thomond Park on Friday, September 11.
With Munster’s first outing in the Heineken Cup, away to the Northampton Saints on October 10, mere weeks away Tony McGahan will be hoping to make a positive start on Friday night. And, there is every chance of doing so.
For the past five years the Glasgow Warriors have posted the third-worst record in the Magners League and only won seven of their 18 outings last season - Glasgow did earn a losing bonus point on five occasions which does suggest that coach Sean Lineen has assembled a squad which is at the very least a determined one.
The Warriors feature the likes of Chris Cussiter, Dan Parks, Max Evans and Thom Evans in their squad.
Munster recorded two valuable wins over the Warriors last season.
In October 2008 Munster returned to their spiritual home of Thomond Park (19,000 spectators turned out to see Munster begin a new era at the re-developed ground), but had to work very hard to see off Glasgow on a 25-17 score line - tries from Peter Stringer, Barry Murphy and Doug Howlett proved enough to give Munster their fifth win of the 2008-09 Magners League campaign while the result also propelled Tony McGahan’s men to the summit of the league table.
Seven months later, on March 27, Munster collided with Glasgow at the Firhill Arena and won again on a 26-13 score line - on the night Munster handed the Warriors their first defeat at the Firhill Arena since May 2006.
Munster were outstanding on the night with a hat-trick of tries from Niall Ronan helping the eventual Magners League champions to a bonus point win - Keith Earls scored Munster’s fourth try.
Although the Munster match day 22 has not yet been released Tony McGahan is expected to take a strong squad to Scotland.
James Coughlan has recovered from illness while Munster are hopeful that their injured Lions Tomas O’Leary and Jerry Flannery will return to action in the next few weeks.
Munster are happy with the progress being made by scrum-half O’Leary and hooker Flannery as they continue their recovery from the respective ankle and shoulder injuries which ruled them out of the Lions tour to South Africa.
Unfortunately Aucklander Nick Williams has been ruled out of action for up to six weeks after undergoing knee surgery following the injury he sustained in a pre-season friendly clash with the Sale Sharks. Although Barry Murphy and Ian Dowling were ruled out of last Friday night’s game against the Leicester Tigers at Welford road, Tony McGahan has indicated that both players were rested only as a precautionary measure.

Brian McDonnell

Ireland return to Thomond Park next Tuesday

GIOVANNI’S Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland return to Thomond Park on Tuesday, September 8 next when they face South Africa at the Limerick venue (kick-off 7.30pm).
Despite suffering a heavy three-nil defeat at the hands of Australia Giovanni Trapattoni has named an identical squad ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Cyprus - the 24-man squad will also stand for the national side’s friendly against South Africa at Thomond Park next Tuesday.


The Republic of Ireland face Cyprus in Nicosia on Saturday, September 5 knowing a positive result would edge them closer to qualification - the Republic of Ireland currently lie second in group eight and remain unbeaten during their campaign.
A win in Nicosia would see the Irish end the Cypriots’ hopes of reaching the play-offs - the hosts are currently eight points behind Ireland, but with a game in hand.
The Republic of Ireland won the reverse fixture at Croke Park in October when Robbie Keane’s goal in the fifth minute proved the difference between the sides.
The friendly against South Africa will pit Giovanni Trapattoni’s men against the hosts of next summer’s tournament with the Irish manager keen to give some fringe members of his squad game time at Thomond Park.
As expected the Football Association of Ireland have revised their ticket-pricing structure for the up-coming international friendly at Thomond Park.
For the game against South Africa tickets, including a family-friendly children’s ticket, went on sale on August 24 - tickets will are available from the following outlets: www.fai.ie, Gleeson Sports Scene, Mahon House, 25 Upper William Street, Limerick and the Thomond Park ticket office. Tickets will be priced - schoolboy €7, North and South Terrace €20, East and West Terrace €30, East and West Stand €40, Child Stand ticket (under-16) €20. South Africa will include a number of well-known players in their squad, such as Benni McCarthy of Blackburn, Steven Pienaar of Everton and Aaron Mokoena of Portsmouth.
The Bafana Bafana will play Ireland three days after taking on Germany in Munich on September 5, the same day as Ireland’s World Cup qualifier in Cyprus.
Slightly more than 19,400 soccer fans turned up to see the Republic of Ireland lose three-nil to Australia mere weeks ago at Thomond Park.
Ireland were completely out-classed on the night when Pim Verbeek’s side stroked the ball effortlessly across a pristine Thomond Park and threatened Shay Given’s goal at will - two first half strikes from Tim Cahill and a late David Carney effort from 30 yards gave Australia their deserved win.

Squad: Shay Given, Kieren Westwood, Joe Murphy, John O’Shea, Kevin Foley, Richard Dunne, Stephen Kelly, Kevin Kilbane, Eddie Nolan, Sean St Ledger, Aiden McGeady, Damien Duff, Darron Gibson, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Liam Miller, Stephen Hunt, Andy Keogh, Liam Lawrence, Caleb Folan, Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane, Shane Long & Leon Best.

Brian McDonnell

Limerick hope to bring poor run to an end

WITH Limerick FC looking as vulnerable as skittles lately Super Blues supporters will welcome Mervue United to Jackman Park on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm).
Although the Galway men are certainly no pushovers Limerick FC fans will nourish their minds with the memory of the four-one thrashing the Super Blues handed to Mervue on April 13 last - that performance was reminiscent of the form which saw Limerick FC dominate the second half of last season, but since then the Super Blues’ form has been mixed to say the least.
Indeed, it was doubly disheartening on Friday night to see Limerick FC lose their tenth league game against UCD (1-2) at the Belfield Bowl while Kilcornan’s Garry Sheehan smacked in two goals to beat Shelbourne at Tolka Park and give the Wexford Youths a priceless away win.
The task of pinpointing the reason for Limerick’s season petering out so badly has weakened many a stout heart.
On May 22, for instance, Limerick FC drew 0-0 with UCD, but they should have beaten the Students that night at Jackman Park.
Ironically enough Limerick followed that impressive display up with a one-nil defeat away to Mervue United, Alex Lee pounced for the winner in the 47th minute, and in the last 11 games the Super Blues have only managed to gather 10 points from the 33 on offer.
What has really hamstrung Pat Scully’s efforts to mould a winning team is squad instability and injury to key players.
Inspirational club captain Pat Purcell has only managed to play a part in 10 league games this season while the club has also missed the promising Paul Cummins up front.
The manager however has had to deal with an even more acute problem in that a startling number of players have pulled on the Super Blue jersey this season.
Bobby Tier, for example, became the 39th player to turn out for Limerick FC this season against UCD on Friday night.
For one reason or another Limerick FC have failed in their efforts to retain quality players this season with Tommy Barrett, Shane Clarke, Brian O’Callaghan and Paul Walsh the most notable individuals to withdraw their services in recent weeks.
Only left-back Martin Deady has played in all 23 of Limerick’s league games this season while the Limerick District League Premier Division is littered with players of League of Ireland quality.
Mervue United beat Athlone Town 3-1 last weekend.

Brian McDonnell