![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ciaran-K-133x133.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n Ciar\u00e1n Kennedy<\/p>\n
Reports from Dexcom Stadium<\/p>\n
Connacht 26
\nMunster 7<\/p>\n
CONNACHT\u2019S PLAY-OFF HOPES will push into the final week of the URC regular-season after the province delivered a dominant performance to beat Munster with a bonus-point in Galway.<\/p>\n
Results elsewhere ensured Connacht couldn\u2019t move up the table today, but their bonus-point haul leaves them just one point (49 points) behind both Ulster and Cardiff. Munster are sixth on 51 points, and won\u2019t enjoy the review of this sloppy showing at the Dexcom Stadium.<\/p>\n
Clayton McMillan\u2019s side were totally outplayed in the first half and didn\u2019t get on the scoreboard until the 68th minute.<\/p>\n
Winning the toss and playing into the strong breeze, a dominant first-half saw Connacht build a 19-0 lead across the opening 40 thanks to tries from Ben Murphy, Shayne Bolton and Shamus Hurley-Langton.<\/p>\n
Munster\u2019s struggle to make any real impact on the game wasn\u2019t helped by the loss of Diarmuid Barron after just 16 minutes, the hooker seeing yellow for a croc roll on Dylan Tierney-Martin. The Connacht hooker was forced off following the incident, while Barron\u2019s yellow was upgraded to a 20-minute red card.<\/p>\n
Munster spent almost 10 minutes with no hooker on the pitch, with flanker John Hodnett and then loosehead prop Jeremy Loughman throwing into the lineout before Lee Barron was eventually sent in to try shore up the Munster set-piece.<\/p>\n
It was a messy Munster performance, with loose handling and rushed decisions feeding into the frustration felt by their supporters in a sold-out Dexcom Stadium.<\/p>\n
![\"bundee-aki-tackled-by-andrew-smith-and-craig-casey\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778373612_169_.jpeg\")
\n Connacht’s Bundee Aki tackled by Munster’s Craig Casey and Andrew Smith. James Crombie \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
James Crombie \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
Connacht were building pressure right from the start, a promising early attack ending as Bundee Aki knocked on under little pressure.<\/p>\n
In those early exchanges Connacht were held up twice in quick succession, Sam Illo denied before the play was pulled back for a Connacht penalty, before Gavin Coombes did well to stop Sean Jansen from opening the scoring.<\/p>\n
Just after the 10-minute mark Connacht took the lead, Murphy with a typical clever snipe after good, patient play, including a strong carry and offload from Billy Bohan. Sam Gilbert added the extras and the home side were up and running.<\/p>\n
After Munster lost Barron to his yellow card, Connacht continued to play most of the rugby deep in Munster territory.<\/p>\n
On 20 minutes, quick hands sent Bolton over in the corner, Gilbert doing well to release the final pass before the wind dragged his conversion attempt well wide. The passage had started with Munster losing a lineout midway down the field.<\/p>\n
Munster were compounding errors. A rare attack around the edges of the Connacht 22 ended with a knock-on by Andrew Smith, and after winning possession back in their own 22, a rush of blood to the head saw Craig Casey take a quick-tap and kick the ball out on the full. The Munster captain had his hands on his head before the ball had even sailed out of play.<\/p>\n
Connacht soon had their third, Hurley-Langton pushed through from a lineout as the hosts easily spun Munster\u2019s defensive maul.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"sam-illo-celebrates-after-shamus-hurley-langton-scored-his-sides-third-try\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778373612_516_.jpeg\")
\n Sam Illo celebrates after Shamus Hurley-Langton scored Connacht’s third try. James Crombie \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
James Crombie \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
A one-sided half ended with Connacht having enjoyed 69% of the possession and 62% territory, with Munster making just 68 metres to Connacht\u2019s 294.<\/p>\n
A big response was needed from a Munster side who started the second half with a penalty as a result of a scuffle as the teams went in at the break.<\/p>\n
Three minutes after the restart, Munster were over but a TMO review showed a knock-on as Alex Kendellen stretched for the line, disrupted by Josh Murphy\u2019s tackle.<\/p>\n
And Connacht would continue to frustrate their visitors, much to the delight of their home crowd. Munster lost a lineout on halfway before a scrappy attack ended with another Connacht turnover.<\/p>\n
As the benches were emptied Connacht lost some of the fluidity in their play, Munster building more possession around the middle of the pitch without making much of a dent in Connacht\u2019s 22.<\/p>\n
![\"sean-jansen-with-alex-kendellen-and-josh-wycherley\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778373613_208_.jpeg\")
\n Connacht’s Sean Jansen with Alex Kendellen and Josh Wycherley of Munster. Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
Shortly after the hour mark, a Munster lineout maul made some ground before being pushed out of play. On their next attack Munster had space out wide but Connacht scrambled well to smother the opportunity. The play was eventually called back for a penalty, Connacht warned as their penalty count rose.<\/p>\n
Casey tapped the penalty short, and while Connacht initially held firm, the ball was whipped back and Casey hit through a gap to finally get his team on the scoreboard, with JJ Hanrahan added the conversion.<\/p>\n
That score only kicked the Connacht support back into life, and from their team were hunting for the bonus point score.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jack Carty marked his last game at the Dexcom with a slick pass out the back which sent Bolton racing through, stopped inches from the line. The cavalry arrived and Connacht reworked the ball to Sean Jansen, who added the finishing touch. Gilbert\u2019s conversion sent Connacht into a 26-7 lead and killed any chance of an unlikely Munster comeback.<\/p>\n
A tight URC play-off race rolls into the final weekend, with Connacht away to Edinburgh next Friday and Munster at home to the Lions on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Connacht scorers:<\/p>\n
Tries<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Murphy, Bolton, Hurley-Langton, Jansen.<\/p>\n Conversion<\/strong> \u2013 Gilbert [3\/4]<\/p>\n Munster scorers:<\/p>\n Try<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Casey<\/p>\n Conversion<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Hanrahan<\/p>\n CONNACHT:<\/b>\u00a0Sam Gilbert; Shane Jennings, Harry West (Se\u00e1n Naughton, 53), Bundee Aki, Shayne Bolton; Josh Ioane (Jack Carty, 66), Ben Murphy (Matthew Devine, 65); Billy Bohan (Peter Dooley, 47), Dylan Tierney-Martin (Eoin de Buitl\u00e9ar, 22), Sam Illo (Finlay Bealham, 47); Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy (Joe Joyce, 54); Cian Prendergast (capt), Shamus Hurley-Langton (Paul Boyle, 61), Sean Jansen.<\/p>\n MUNSTER:<\/b>\u00a0Mike Haley; Thaakir Abrahams (Se\u00e1n O\u2019Brien, 53), Alex Nankivell, Dan Kelly, Andrew Smith; JJ Hanrahan, Craig Casey (capt) (Ben O\u2019Donovan, 79); Jeremy Loughman (Josh Wycherley, 53), Diarmuid Barron, Michael Ala\u2019alatoa (Conor Bartley, 66); Edwin Edogbo (Jack O\u2019Donoghue, HT), Fineen Wycherley; Tom Ahern, John Hodnett (Lee Barron, 24) (Alex Kendellen, 37), Gavin Coombes (Brian Gleeson, 47).<\/p>\n Yellow card<\/b>: Barron, 16 (upgraded to 20min red card)<\/p>\n Referee:<\/b>\u00a0Peter Martin [IRFU].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ciar\u00e1n Kennedy Reports from Dexcom Stadium Connacht 26 Munster 7 CONNACHT\u2019S PLAY-OFF HOPES will push into the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,71791,184728,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5599,5,7,8,59006],"class_list":["post-477085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-connacht","tag-derby","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-munster","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-urc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116547501095359548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}