Michael Ward Trophy: Munster Senior League 2 Connacht FA 1

THE Munster Senior League got the defence of their Michael Ward crown off to a winning start with a 2-1 win over the Connacht FA in O’Shea Park, Blarney last night (Friday).

The host team scored twice in the second half to put themselves in the driving seat after the Leinster Senior League and the Ulster Senior League played out a cracking 5-5 draw in Passage at the same time.

Munster had the upper hand for most of the game, though they had little to show for it at the break as the sides went in scoreless at half-time.

The second half proved much more fruitful for the home side who took the lead inside the first five minutes.

Last year’s winning captain Mark O’Sullivan was fouled in the penalty area and the Avondale man took responsibility for the resulting spot kick, putting the ball beyond Tony Clarke in the Connacht goal.

The goal settled the MSL and they increased their lead in the 78^th minute when another Avondale man, Danny Long, found the net.

Munster had the game in their grip at that point, though Connacht did manage an injury-time consolation through Alan O’Donovan.

MUNSTER SENIOR LEAGUE: Daniel O’Leary, Robert Brosnan (Ricky O’Sullivan h/t), Anthony Wolfe, Ken Hoey, Luke Connolly (Kevin Mulcahy 80), Gareth Cambridge, Michael O’Shea (Brian Murphy, 75), Ray O’Leary, Mark O’Sullivan, Danny Long (Ronan Stanton 84), Christopher Butt (Greg Kelly 77).

CONNACHT LEAGUE: Tony Clarke, Conor Devlaney (Gary Forde 86), Mick Duffy (Darragh Concannon 84), Paul Sinnott, Dave Cameron (Alan O’Donovan 70),  Dave Cullen,  Gary Rooney,  Joe Lawless (Eric Brown 77), Brian McCrann,  Keith Nibbs (Dave Hoban ), 5 Austin O’Malley.

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