The Ireland U20s continued their Six Nations charge on Friday night with a spectacular late win against France at Musgrave Park in Cork.
Ireland trailed by two points with little over two minutes left, before a penalty from the boot of Sam Prendergast in the dying moments sealed a memorable 33-31 win in front of a sold out crowd.
One remarkable record that was kept alive on Friday night is Ireland's unbeaten run at Musgrave Park in the U20s Six Nations championship.
Since moving the U20s games to Musgrave Park from Dublin's Donnybrook ahead of the 2019 championship, Ireland have remained unbeaten at home, winning every single game played in the championship in Cork.
After full-time of the game against France, Brian Gleeson and his Irish teammates hailed the crucial role played by the crowd in Musgrave Park in a huge win for Ireland.
Brian Gleeson and co. praise role of Musgrave Park
Sam Prendergast was the star of the show for Ireland on Friday night, scoring 18 of the team's 33 points to help overcome France's five tries in Cork.
His final, game-winning kick left number 8 Brian Gleeson in disbelief, with Gleeson saying Prendergast had displayed some "balls" in nailing the decisive penalty.
Full-time: Ireland 33-31 France
Sam Prendergast's penalty wins it for Ireland!
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Speaking to Balls after the final whistle in Cork, Gleeson went on to hail the crucial role played by the full house in Musgrave Park in the Ireland U20s' win, pointing out that the fans had given the team a lift when they found themselves briefly down to 13 men:
The atmosphere was unbelievable. Singing the national anthem I had goosebumps.
When it got to crunch time, the crowd really helped us. When we went down to 13 men, the crowd really gave us a boost and helped us get through it.
This is what we dream of - a sold out Musgrave Park! You can't get any better than that.
Gleeson also shared his thoughts on the Irish performance. Despite praising his teammates - in particular the star man Sam Prendergast - he was aware of the areas in which Ireland needed to improve, saying that they had not been clinical at points:
The first-half was good from us, we went up. But clinically we could have been better. We'll have a look at that tomorrow - when we got closer to the line we got a bit hyper and started going in 1s and 2s rather than our usual 3s and 4s. It's something to work on, definitely, for Italy next time.
Match-winner Prendergast would speak to RTÉ Sport at full-time, and echoed Gleeson's comments about the Musgrave Park crowd.
This was Prendergast's first game for the Ireland U20s in Cork, and he was blown away by the volume of support for the team:
This was sold out early in the week. We knew we were going to be playing in a sold out Musgrave. It seems since it has moved down to here that it has been a sell-out every time there’s a game here. It’s just unbelievable.
Even in the warm-up, we all got a bit shook by it, but we managed to get through it. It was an unbelievable crowd.
Long may the Ireland U20s' success at Musgrave Park continue.
SEE ALSO: The 2013 Ireland U20s - Where Are They Now?
