HOLDERS Young Munster and Nenagh Ormond meet in the Munster Senior Challenge Cup at Thomond Park tomorrow (Thursday, kick-off 7.30pm).
The Cookies, in their fourth final appearance on the trot, are seeking to complete a remarkable three-in-a-row at the expense of Tipperary’s first ever representative in the showpiece.
Gearóid Prendergast’s Young Munster, for the third successive season, reached the decider at the expense of Cork Constitution 19-13 while Nenagh Ormond beat Highfield 28-5 in the other semi-final.
In their semi, Young Munster secured tries through Stephen Lyons, Bailey Faloon, and Billy Crowley, while Evan Cusack kicked three penalties.
At Nenagh, the home team bettered their opponents with tries through Josh Rowland, Willie Coffey, and Patrick Scully, while Scully was also accurate from spot-kicks.
Following International Women’s Day last week, both sides are led by female presidents, with Trish Montgomery of Young Munster and Nenagh Ormond’s Theresa Hassey.
Said Trish Montgomery of Young Munster: “I never made a big deal about being involved in rugby as a woman because it’s something that has never occurred to me.”
“When I was asked to go for the junior vice-president to begin with, I hummed and hawed for a while. What I loved about it was meeting teams, meeting the other officials from the other clubs. Down through the years, I know people from every club that we play and it’s really nice to reconnect with them because at the end of the day we’re all the same.”
Said Theresa Hassey of Nenagh Ormond: “At our club, it was never a focus that we have a woman president. That never came into it. It was just ‘you’re the right person for it and we want you to do it’. I was looking at our centenary book, we were founded in 1884, recently. Our centenary was the year I met my husband and started to understand about rugby.”
Young Munster have been installed as favourites to win the title for the 10th occasion. Garryowen are well out on front in the Roll of Honour with 39 victories, the most recent of which was achieved in 2018.
