Beirne and Crowley immense as Munster rock Leinster at Croker

Murray Kinsella Reports from Croke Park

Leinster 14

Munster 31

CROWLEY’S KICK FOR Farrell. Coughlan’s intercept. Gleeson’s raw power to punch over. Coombes’ hold up on van der Flier. Beirne’s turnover.

Which Beirne turnover? Take your pick. The Munster captain was at his relentless best as he played a momentous role in a momentous win for his province. Clayton McMillan’s men marched on Croke Park and left with their first win over Leinster since the 2023 URC semi-final. It was a bonus-point victory for good measure.

The Munster supporters among a crowd of 51,859 at Croke Park, many of them packed into Hill 16, have many happy moments to dine out on tonight. They have endured torrid evenings at the hands of Leinster but this was their team’s day.

Those Munster fans must have been worried early on as Leinster took the lead through a converted Rónan Kelleher score in just the seventh minute, but Munster were the better team from there on.

While Beirne’s performance was ludicrously good as he made turnover after turnover, Munster were steered masterfully by out-half Jack Crowley, who made a huge statement two weeks before Ireland play the All Blacks in Chicago. The Munster number 10 kicked beautifully, particularly with a clever diagonal chip on first phase of a lineout attack for Tom Farrell’s first-half try, while he was as combative as ever in contact.

Four kicks from four off the tee, including a tricky 40-metre penalty, was pleasing for Crowley too. He even finished the game at scrum-half in a real tour de force display.

Munster led 21-7 at half time and as the whistle went for the break, Crowley called for his team-mates to stay out on the pitch for a huddle. The chat must have been about not letting this opportunity slip. They didn’t.

They had worked hard to get themselves back into that strong position at half time. 21-year-old Gleeson, handed a big starting chance at number eight, punched over from close range to level the game in the 18th minute and though he was forced off injured 10 minutes later, he showed his quality again.

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Farrell did brilliantly for his try, getting his right hand to Crowley’s chipped kick, nudging it over the head of Jimmy O’Brien and gleefully gathering to finish. Munster’s plan worked out beautifully as Crowley found the space and Farrell did the rest.

The third Munster try in the first half was a moment of defensive brilliance from scrum-half Ethan Coughlan, who stepped up in the injury-enforced absence of Craig Casey. 23-year-old Coughlan read opposite number Jamison Gibson-Park like a book and picked off his pass to RG Snyman in the Munster 22 before streaking home under the posts.

That intercept was among the many, many highlights for Denis Leamy’s defence, with Beirne delivering six or seven of them. His range of maul turnovers and breakdown poaches on his first appearance of the season saw him pick up exactly where he left off as the player of the Lions series.

While Munster continued their 100% start to life under Kiwi head coach McMillan, this was Leinster’s third defeat in four games so far in the URC. Their supporters will go home with more than a few worries and it will surely be a sleepless night for Leo Cullen and his coaching staff.

Their team started in muscular fashion but then seemed to go completely off script, playing with an obvious looseness that showed itself in overplaying in the middle third of the pitch and throwing wild, unnecessary offloads too often.

The imposing start, which included a string of dominant scrum penalties, should have resulted in Leinster doubling down on that directness, but their adventurous streak played into Munster’s hands.

When they found themselves trailing 24-7 after Crowley’s penalty kick with around 30 minutes to go, Leinster went back to their power game but Munster had the defensive answers. They made a whopping 241 tackles. They had 12 players who hit double digits on that front, with Fineen Wycherley, Dan Kelly, Jack O’Donoghue, and Crowley among the leaders.

Gavin Coombes, who replaced Gleeson in the first half, did a superb job to hold van der Flier up over the tryline at one stage, while Beirne was an incessant threat at the breakdown and maul. He suffocated the Leinster attack. 

There were injuries aplenty on both sides, with Leinster losing Jordan Larmour and Paddy McCarthy to head injuries in the first half, while RG Snyman limped off early in the second half to boos from the Hill.

But Munster had to contend with their own losses, Andrew Smith hurting his hamstring early on, Gleeson departing in real pain in the first half, and hooker Diarmuid Barron having to go off at half time. Scrum-halves Coughlan and Paddy Patterson both got injured in the second half, while tighthead prop John Ryan had a stint at blindside with Beirne off briefly for a HIA.

Whatever about the personnel and the toll on bodies from both sides, Leinster spent much of the second half running into a Munster brick wall. 

With the game already won, Munster rubbed salt in their wounds as the electric Thaakir Abrahams helped to produce a bonus-point penalty try in the corner, with Ciarán Frawley sent to the sin bin. Scott Penny grabbed a last-gasp consolation score for Leinter, but it couldn’t dent Munster’s joy.

This one will well and truly sting for Cullen’s men.

As for Munster, they head home with a huge boost of self-belief. They will have enjoyed hearing The Fields of Athenry ring around Croke Park as the final whistle was blown.

Leinster scorers:

Tries: Rónan Kelleher, Scott Penny

Conversions: Sam Prendergast [2 from 2]

Munster scorers:

Tries: Brian Gleeson, Tom Farrell, Ethan Coughlan, penalty try

Conversions: Jack Crowley [3 from 3]

Penalties: Jack Crowley [1 from 1]

LEINSTER: Jamie Osborne; Jordan Larmour (Jimmy O’Brien ’23), Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw (Ciarán Frawley ’58 (yellow card ’77)), James Lowe; Sam Prendergast (HIA – Ciarán Frawley ’39 to ‘HT), Jamison Gibson-Park (Fintan Gunne ’70); Paddy McCarthy (Andrew Porter ’17), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan ’46), Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson ’63); RG Snyman (Brian Deeny ’44), James Ryan; Alex Soroka, Josh van der Flier (captain), Max Deegan (Scott Penny ’73).

MUNSTER: Shane Daly; Andrew Smith (Alex Nankivell ’10), Tom Farrell, Dan Kelly, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley (JJ Hanrahan ’77), Ethan Coughlan (Paddy Patterson ’56); Michael Milne (Jeremy Loughman ’53), Diarmuid Barron (Lee Barron ‘HT), John Ryan (Ronan Foxe ’63); Edwin Edogbo (Jean Kleyn ‘HT), Fineen Wycherley; Tadhg Beirne (captain) (HIA – John Ryan ’66 to ’71), Jack O’Donoghue, Brian Gleeson (Gavin Coombes ’29 (yellow card ’80)).

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi [FIR].