Vital bonus for Munsters

Young Munster's traditional forward power laid the foundations for a bonus-ladened victory at rain-lashed Eaton Park. With Peter Cohessy the cornerstone, Munsters pack played the sort of perfectly-controlled game that they have become famous.

Playing into a very tricky wind that saw the driving rain bringing grimmace to their faces, they had squeezed into 10-9 first-half lead.

The defeat won't necessarily help Ballymena's coach Andre Bester negotiate a better contract, but there was little he could do as he frustratingly watched his side indulge in a litany for errors. Their line-outs were a mess while Peter Clohessy made sure they were never comfortable in the scrums.

It was a steal from a line-out that enabled Munsters to steal into the lead with the bullocking Matt te Pau making the room for right wing Finbar Hogan to romp over. Skipper Mick Lynch was the man in control with his kicking exemplary, both from hand and ground. His touchline conversion of that opening try just proved a point. In the end he picked up 15 points.

Hogan grabbed a second try at the start of the third quarter to hammer home the start of the Ballymena decline. Neil Doak was Ballymena's key man. Three first half penalties put in them a challenging position at the break. Then when he moved out to take over from the off-form Ajay Derwin, he scored a brilliant individual try to bring his side to within sniffing distance of a bonus point.

In between Lynch banged over a couple of penalties and Mike Mullins raced in for a great touchdown engineered by his pack. But in injury-time a wild long pass thrown in panic just epitomised Ballymena's day as centre Leo Foley nipped in to intercept on the half-way and trundle in under the posts. It meant that Ballymena got zilch and a top four place panic, while Young Munsters hopes are now in their own hands.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 15 mins: Hogan try, Lynch con, 0-7; 20: Doak pen, 3-7; 35: Lynch pen, 3-10; 37: Doak pen, 6-10; 40: Doak pen, 9-10; 60: Hogan try, 9-15; 63: Lynch pen, 9-18; 70: Lynch pen, 9-21; 74: Mullins try, Lynch con, 9-28; 79: Doak try, Doak con, 16-28; 84: Doyle try, Lynch con, 16-35.

BALLYMENA: S Young; J Topping, S Stewart, R Botha, S McDowell; A Derwin, N Doak; N McKernan, P Shields, G Cully, D O'Kane, G Longwell, A Graham, R Nelson, J Taggart. Replacements: D Topping for Graham (half-time); W McAllister for Cully (6o mins); B Young for McKernan (60 mins); B Free for Derwin (66 mins); A Maxwell for Young (68 mins).

YOUNG MUNSTER: M Connolly; F Hogan, M Mullins, L Doyle, C Casey; M Lynch, L Prendergast; P Clohessy, B Cantrell, M Fitzgerald, C Power, P O'Connell, M Te Pau, N Ngarimu, K Gallagher. Replacement: T Lane for Cantrell (75 mins).

Referee: A Lewis (IRFU).