AIL Match Report: Old Belvedere 19 , Young Munster 15

Old Belvedere 19 , Young Munster 15 .

AIL Men’s Div 1 (A) Round 14 .

Sat 28th February 2026, 2.30pm KO

Ollie Campbell Park , Anglesea Rd, D.4 .

Referee ; Sam Holt .

 

Old Belvedere edged Young Munster by 3 tries to two in this entertaining and closely fought contest . A 63rd minute Callum ( ‘Captain fantastic ‘ ) Wilson close quarters try & a touchline conversion by Morgan ( ‘Moggie’ ) Meredith proved to be the difference between the two sides with a late Young Munster rally coming up short in the dying moments .

Played under blue skies and sunshine with a light breeze blowing across the 1st pitch ( from the clubhouse towards the 2nds pitch) this game was played on a firm and surprisingly good surface , given the recent rainfall in the east .

Young Munster, attacking the Anglesea rd end for the 1st half, dominated territory and possession in the 1st quarter . On 5 mins The Cookies were on the attack deep inside the Old Belvedere 22 only to be penalised for not releasing in the tackle . Old Belvedere cleared their lines with a relieving penalty kick to touch .

Two mins later the 1st scrum of the match yielded a penalty for the hosts , 1st blood Old Belvedere . Young Munster were having difficulties securing line out possession coughing up the ball out of touch on 9 mins, symptomatic of their general failure to execute when in the hosts half in promising attacking positions . This happened again on 19 mins when after good build-up play by their pack the Limerick side failed to secure their own ball at the line out, allowing Old Belvedere off the hook again .

It was most surely against the run of play on 27 mins when Old Belvedere’s right wing Hugh Reddan received possession out wide far side around the half way before stepping inside the first defender and then releasing in the tackle to outhalf for the Day Morgan ( ‘Moggie’ ) Merdith who jogged over the try line out wide to the left hand side. He then kicked an excellent touchline conversion between the sticks , 7 – 0 .

Just before the half time whistle Young Munster were on the attack in the Old Belvedere 22 and off a line out near side the ball was secured at 2 and spun out the back line from left to right for full back Shane O’Leary to latch onto a pass midfield stepping the Old Belvedere Defence to get over to the right of the posts . 7- 5 .

 

Half Time 7 – 5 .

 

The wind kicked up some what at the beginning of the second half but it didnt put the wind up the Cookies who started the brighter, Shane O’Leary winning a penalty off the restart with a cut at the OB Defensive line . He successfully navigated the penalty kick from around the 10 m line . 7 – 8 .

10 mins into the second half off a Young Munster scrum some 15 meters out near side the ball was turned over and spun out wide. A strong midfield thrust from Jaden ( ‘Doddsy’) Beckett and a good support line from wing forward Tom Mulcair allowed Old Belvederes right wing Jack

Keating get on the end of the move diving over in the right hand corner despite the close attentions of the Young Munster scramble defence. 12- 8 .

‘La Piece de resistance’ came on on 53 mins when Old Belvedere punted high into the Dublin 4 skies from the own half only for the ball to be gathered out wide near the far side touch line on the half way line by Young Munsters Jake O’Riordan who fed danger man Shane O’Leary who took off from his own 10 meter line cutting a swathe through the fractured Old Belvedere defensive line off before off loading to scrum half Jake O’Riordan screaming up on his inside and finishing a delightful transition from defence to attack . Shane O’Leary brilliantly converted from out wide to the left . 12- 15 .

This was any bodys game entering the final 15 mins with Old Belvedere marginally getting on top showing grit and determination winning the collisions and edging ahead on the possession / territory front . On 63 mins with the hosts on the attack with a line out some 20 meters out secured at 4 by lock Patrick Dowling , the pack drove hard off the take with low body positions mauling their way over the try line out wide to the left . Fittingly it was Old Belvederes Captain fantastic, Dynamic Hooker Callum Wilson in the back of the van who got the try . Morgan ( ‘Moggie’ ) Merdith kicked a superb touchline conversion and the hosts reclaimed the initiative . 19-15 .

Young Munsters frustration and failure to execute off launch plays was evident on 76 mins when off a hard won penalty line out just inside the hosts half they failed to secure their own ball overthrowing to the tail where Old Belvederes tight head Ryan ( ‘Rhino’ ) Mc Mahon gratefully caught the ball and trundled forward off loading to Callum Wilson significantly reversing the attack and returning vital territory and possession to the hosts at the business end of this affair.

Young Munster refused to give in and came hard again winning a scrum penalty in their own half on 80 mins . They kicked deep into the Old Belvedere half to launch a series of raids deep into overtime . There followed a series of close quarters attacks culminating in a shane O’Leary kick pass to the right gathered by centre Fionn Gibbons whom offloaded sumptuously out the back door to sub Hubert Gilvarry some 12 meters out and looking good only to be steam rolled into touch by a try saving tackle from ‘the Horse’ also known as Jaden ‘Doddys ‘ Beckett ! Old Belvedere secured the throw in through Patrick Dowling and scrum half Hugh ( ‘ Hughie ‘ ) O’Sullivan duly kicked the ball out to the delight of the Home support .

‘Lordie’