TRIES in either half from Ronan O’Mahony and Sean Henry proved crucial in Donnybrook, as Munster held off a late fightback from Leinster to record a six-point win in a lively Inter-provincial ‘A’ challenge.

Munster took a deserved lead on 12 minutes when winger O’Mahony crossed over for an unconverted try.

Leinster soon settled into the contest, though, and good work in the Munster half led to a brace of penalties from Noel Reid.

Reid was also on target with a penalty six minutes before the break, but Munster took a two-point cushion into the second period (11-9) thanks to impressive place kicks by JJ Hanrahan.

Henry broke through three minutes after the restart for a try and Munster were able to hold out for a hard-earned success, despite the late push from the Leinster men.

LEINSTER ‘A’ – D Kearney (A Byrne 70); A Boyle, B Macken (J Van Der Flier 48), J Coghlan, S Coghlan-Murray; N Reid (C Marsh 36), A Griggs; J McGrath (J O’Connell 65), J Tracy (T Sexton h-t), J Hagan (M Moore 54), T Beirne, B Marshall, R Ruddock, C Gilsenan (J Van Der Flier 68), J Murphy (J Conan 63).

MUNSTER ‘A’ – F Jones; J Murphy, D Barnes, I Dineen, R O’Mahony (C Bohane h-t); JJ Hanrahan (S Deasy 57), P Stringer (D Williams h-t); J Ryan (K Griffin 74), S Henry (D Casey 50), C Condon (S Archer h-t), D Foley (B Hayes h-t), I Nagle, S Buckley, T O’Donnell (R Murphy 20), P Butler.

REF – S Gaffikin (IRFU).

Irish Independent