{"id":601902,"date":"2026-08-23T06:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T06:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/601902\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T06:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T06:54:12","slug":"munster-beat-connacht-to-extend-winning-streak-to-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/601902\/","title":{"rendered":"Munster beat Connacht to extend winning streak to seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connacht 12-47 Munster<\/p>\n

An already-qualified Munster will move on to the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship final in unbeaten form following a 47-12 win away to Connacht.<\/p>\n

Although Leinster’s earlier victory over Ulster <\/a>ended Connacht’s hopes of reaching next week’s final at Dexcom Stadium, they put in a gutsy display in their first game in front of the fully-completed Clan Stand.<\/p>\n

Uillin Eilian had a dream start to her Connacht senior debut, grabbing a third-minute try, but Munster gradually took control of the scoreboard to lead 21-5 at half-time.<\/p>\n

Alana McInerney’s intercept effort was followed by Alisha Flynn driving in under the posts, and then Caitr\u00edona Finn’s slick 33rd-minute score brought her tally to 11 points.<\/p>\n

The defending champions’ third straight bonus point success was rubber-stamped by further tries from player of the match McInerney, who helped herself to a hat-trick, Flynn, and replacement Abbie Salter-Townshend.<\/p>\n

Bursting over for a brilliant try on the hour mark, Connacht number 8 Jemima Adams Verling capitalised on Siobh\u00e1n McCarthy’s sin-binning, but the Reds had the result wrapped up.<\/p>\n

Matt Brown’s table-topping side, who are on a seven-match winning streak, will be back at Dexcom Stadium next Saturday, facing familiar foes Leinster as they bid for back-to-back Interpro titles.<\/p>\n

The opening play-off clash on finals day will see Craig Hansberry’s young Connacht outfit target a third-place finish against a revenge-seeking Ulster.<\/p>\n

\"22
\nConnacht’s Aoibheann Reilly in possession<\/p>\n

The Connacht forwards had Munster under some early pressure. Ireland Under-18 hooker Eilian was at the heart of two purposeful mauls, the second one seeing her plunge over the whitewash.<\/p>\n

The hosts’ lead was a brief one, though, as McInerney soon swooped on a Lyndsay Clarke pass to score from 30 metres out. Finn kicked Munster in front for the first time.<\/p>\n

Centres Clarke and Anna McGann saw a decent amount of possession as Connacht got back on the front foot, getting decisions at scrum time and the breakdown\/tackle area.<\/p>\n

Midway through the first half, Munster began to make headway with punchy carries from Flynn, on her first start, and the 19-year-old Sally Kelly, one of their best players during this round-robin phase.<\/p>\n

They converted that momentum into a second seven-pointer, as Flynn, supported by fellow prop McCarthy, powered over in the 25th minute for Finn to convert from straight in front.<\/p>\n

In response, Connacht blew a maul opportunity with Grace Moore getting her hands on a loose lineout ball. Possession changed hands quickly with Aoife Corey earning a turnover penalty, before Faith Oviawe stole a lineout.<\/p>\n

It was then Finn’s turn to crown her first start since returning from injury. The 20-year-old out-half dummied twice to glide inside both Sarah Purcell and Clara Barrett on a 40-metre run-in.<\/p>\n

Clodagh O’Halloran’s clever maul defence thwarted Connacht just before the interval, and an early attacking surge, on the resumption, saw Munster pocket their bonus point.<\/p>\n

Replacement Niamh O’Mahony and Lucia Linn both made breaks, putting the westerners on the retreat, before McInerney coolly collected a Finn kick out wide to double her tally.<\/p>\n

They made it five tries to one in the 51st minute, profiting from O’Halloran getting her hand to a Connacht lineout inside their 22. McCarthy’s latch helped Flynn to bag her brace from short range.<\/p>\n

Barely five minutes later, an Aoibhe O’Flynn turnover set the wheels in motion for McInerney to complete her hat-trick, the winger using Corey’s timely pass to fend off Barrett and make it 40-5.<\/p>\n

Connacht received a subsequent boost, with the amount of penalties conceded by Munster resulting in McCarthy seeing yellow for taking M\u00e9abh Deely too far past the ruck.<\/p>\n

The hosts took advantage in the 63rd minute, as Adams Verling exploded off the base of a midfield scrum, evading two tackles and breaking through Corey’s challenge for an excellent individual try, converted by replacement S\u00edofra Hession.<\/p>\n

However, Connacht’s defence gave way again soon after. A gap opened up for Salter-Townshend to snipe clean through from a ruck, with Finn adding her sixth successful conversion.<\/p>\n

\"22
\nMunster’s Katie Corrigan s given the birthday bumps by her teammates<\/p>\n

Mayo teenager Aoife Heaney, on her debut, brought some big cheers out of the home crowd with her try-saving tackle on Katie Corrigan, and a glimpse of her own speed in attack.<\/p>\n

It was Munster who went closest to grabbing a late try, replacement Corrigan again threatening out wide, but her pass back inside was intercepted by the tireless Aoibheann Reilly.<\/p>\n

Connacht: Clara Barrett; Clare Gorman, Anna McGann, Lyndsay Clarke, Emily Foley; M\u00e9abh Deely, Aoibheann Reilly (co-capt); Ella Burns, Uillin Eilian, Lily Morris, Faith Oviawe, Poppy Garvey, Emma Kelly, Ailish Quinn (co-capt), Jemima Adams Verling.<\/p>\n

Replacements: Jess Keating, \u00c9abha O’Mahony, Hannah Coen, Emma Fabby, Sarah Purcell, Aoife Heaney, Hannah Johnston, S\u00edofra Hession.<\/p>\n

Munster: Aoife Corey; Alana McInerney, Lucia Linn, Enya Breen, Chisom Ugwueru; Caitr\u00edona Finn, Emily Lane; Siobh\u00e1n McCarthy, Beth Buttimer, Alisha Flynn, Aoibhe O’Flynn, Jane Clohessy, Clodagh O’Halloran, Sally Kelly, Grace Moore.<\/p>\n

Replacements: Emma Dunican, Caoimhe Murphy, Tuathla Ryan, Niamh O’Mahony, Ava O’Malley, Abbie Salter-Townshend, Kate Flannery, Katie Corrigan.<\/p>\n

Referee: Alana Kerr (IRFU).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connacht 12-47 Munster An already-qualified Munster will move on to the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship final in unbeaten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-601902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}