A youthful Leinster ‘A’ battled hard but lost 21-17 to an experienced Connacht ‘A’ in Friday’s interprovincial friendly in the Sportsground, Galway…
The hosts took the lead on 9 minutes when winger Darragh Fanning crossed over under the posts. Miah Nikora added the two points with ease and on 25 minutes Shane Monahan crossed over for the game’s second try.
Nikora added a difficult touchline conversion to stretch the home side’s lead to 14 points. Leinster struck back on 30 minutes through the boot of Ian Madigan and the teams went in at half-time with Connacht 14-3 in the lead.
On 45 minutes Shane Monahan picked the ball from the base of a ruck and dived over for his second try with centre Aidan Wynne adding the extras. Both sides started to ring the changes in the second half and Leinster started to get more and more possession.
They got their reward on 60 minutes when out-half Ian Madigan crossed the try line. The Academy out-half then added the conversion before Leinster got their second try, with substitute prop Jack O’Connell crossing over. Madigan again added the conversion but the Westerners held out in the last five minutes to record a four point win.
LEINSTER ‘A’:
15: Daniel Riordan
14: Niall Morris
13: Ian McKinley
12: Eamonn Sheridan
11: Dave Kearney
10: Ian Madigan
9: Paul O’Donohoe
1: Stan Wright CAPTAIN
2: Tom Sexton
3: Darren O’Reilly
4: Eoin Sheriff
5: Mark Flanagan
6: Ciaran Ruddock
7: Paul Ryan
8: Leo Auva’a
REPLACEMENTS:
16: Jason Harris-Wright
17: Stewart Maguire
18: Jack O’Connell
19: Stephen Keogh
20: John Cooney
21: Noel Reid
22: Darren Hudson
