Late penalty denies Titans deserved triumph against unbeaten leaders

Hanrahan made no mistake with the late kick from a penalty after Alex Reider was sin-binned, but the accuracy of McKinney had Titans on the verge of a memorable win at Musgrave Park.

Hanrahan missed his first attempt after five minutes, but he managed to get the hosts off the mark six minutes later after Ivan Dineen’s break earned the penalty. But the Titans managed to stick with Munster and with captain Lee Blackett punching holes at the heart of the home side’s cover they soon drew level when McKinney slotted his first attempt as Munster was penalised for holding on in the tackle in the 19th minute.

Three minutes later he repeated the dose with a kick from halfway to edge Rotherham into a 6-3 lead and he doubled their half-time lead after Munster infringed again.

After surviving their first three B&I Cup games without defeat, Munster A needed to get the second period off to a flying start and they achieved that when Hanrahan kicked his second penalty of the game after Titans were penalised for offside.

The former Irish Under-20 star missed with another attempt from the right moments later, but his 77th-minute kick gave Munster the draw and ensured they held on to their unbeaten record in the competition.

Munster A: J Murphy; D Moroney, S Deasy, I Dineen, R O’Mahony; JJ Hanrahan, C Sheridan; J Cronin, S Henry, J Ryan; D Foley, I Nagle; B Hayes, S Dougall, B O’Mahony. Replacements: N Scannell, A Cotter, P Donnellan, R Murphy, B Slater, J Holland, R Mullane.

Rotherham Titans: F Mulchrone; P Homan, E Sheridan, L Blackett, J Gill; J McKinney, C Mulchrone; J Kilbane, T Stagg, R Davies; T Freeman, D Sanderson; A Rieder, L Makaafi, R Pitman. Replacements: G Denman, S Cahill, B Thomas, J Ellyatt, G Law, M Doneghan, J Williams.

Referee: S Rees (WRU).