Photograph: Nenagh Ormond Under 13's who had their first League match against Clanwilliam on Sunday last.
UL Bohemian 34-7 Nenagh Ladies
Nenagh Ormond Ladies made the short trip to Annacotty on Sunday last where they played UL Bohemian in the first round of the All Ireland Cup. The girls knew this would be a tough task as the Division 1 side have been at the top of the women’s game in Ireland for over ten years.
Nenagh played into a strong wind in the first half and Bohs started well with two scores out wide in the first ten minutes leaving Nenagh trailing by 12 points. However, the Nenagh girls weren’t about to give up and the next 20 minutes saw them with the majority of the possession.
Their best passage of play in the first half came in the last ten minutes when outhalf Sandra Williams called for the ball on the half way line and looped centre Adeline Harty. The Nenagh girls showed great skill to keep the ball alive through some super support play and offloading and this brought them well inside the Bohs 22. They retained the ball well through several phases of tight play and won a penalty which they kicked to touch. Unfortunately, Bohs managed to rob the lineout and kicked the ball to safety.
An unlucky handling error a few minutes later gave Bohs a scrum on their own 10 metre line and their blindside winger Paula McCarthy took an inside line to break through the Nenagh defence and sprint 50 metres to score, leaving the half-time score at UL Bohemian 17-0 Nenagh Ormond.
Just on the half-time whistle, Nenagh suffered a couple of huge losses when Number 8 Marie Louise Ryan, who had a storming 40 minutes, got injured in the tackle and neither herself nor flanker Sinead Hennessy, who had been injured earlier in the half, were able to carry on. This was compounded when, just minutes into the second half, second row Eimear Ryan suffered a knock to the head and was also forced to retire, leaving the Nenagh girls with just 14 players. This forced Nenagh to make positional changes and the following period saw Bohs score two tries, the first from a powerful run up the centre of the pitch by prop Leah Barbour and the second from an overlap which allowed Bohs winger Syphonia Pua to touch down.
The Nenagh girls were unbroken though and they came back into the game with renewed determination. Showing great control and patience, they made their way down the pitch and inside the Boh’s ten metre line. Despite their numerical disadvantage, they managed to win several penalties and, having taken one of these quick, outhalf Sandra Williams showed a steely determination to power through a tight defence and score for Nenagh.
Although Bohs came back to score again, the Nenagh girls can be proud of a great team effort against a tough and experienced Division 1 side. Captain Sandra Williams ran the game well and led by example and Adeline Harty gave a great performance at inside centre, making several breaks and many tackles. In the forwards, pack leader Marie Louise Ryan was outstanding both on and off the ball and Helena Hanrahan and Catherine McGill worked hard throughout.
Next up for the girls are Shannon at home this Sunday. Training continues every Wednesday and Friday at 7.30pm. New players are always welcome, contact Sandra Williams on 087-7916690.
Team: Breda Doheny, Ciara McCullough, Annie Leahy, Adeline Harty, Therese Nolan, Sandra Williams (c), June Whelan, Helena Hanrahan, Catherine McGill, Nicolette Finn, Denise Williams, Eimear Ryan, Sinead Hennessy, Annie Leahy, Marie Louise Ryan. Reps: Carol Lewis, Deirdre Ahern.
Clonmel 29-33 Under 16’s
Nenagh Ormond Under 16’s got their league campaign back to winning ways with a hard fought 33-29 victory in a ten try thriller, away to Clonmel RFC on Sunday week last.
Clonmel began brightly and straight from the kick-off had scored the first try of the match. The kick-off was not caught and Clonmel took advantage of a sleepy defence to score within thirty seconds with the conversion putting Clonmel 7-0 in front before Nenagh had even touched the ball
The early shock woke up the Nenagh lads and a good break from Ruari Maher from outhalf caught out the Clonmel defence to score a try which he failed to convert himself, cutting the deficit to 7-5 after only five minutes.
Clonmel came back at Nenagh but some sloppy passing in midfield was to be their downfall. After ten minutes a loose pass was intercepted by Martin Rainsford, who showed his pace to run from his own half to touch under the posts, allowing Ruari Maher a simple kick to put Nenagh 12-7 in front.
Ruari Maher increased Nenagh’s lead after twenty minutes when he cut through the Clonmel defence in trademark style to score under the posts. He kicked his conversion to put Nenagh 19-7 in front and cruising.
Clonmel responded with an unconverted try of their own before Ruari Maher repeated the trick to complete his hat-trick of tries to leave the half-time score at 26-12 in favour of the Nenagh lads.
The Nenagh management made six changes at half time to ensure all players who travelled played at least half a game. The newcomers had to be very disciplined in defence as Clonmel threw everything at them in the second half. With twenty minutes remaining Clonmel managed to score a converted try near the posts after several phases of good forward play, leaving only seven points between the sides.
The crucial score from a Nenagh perspective came with 15 minutes remaining when a good kick through from Ruari Maher was gathered in Tommy Bowe style by Luke Fahey, who outpaced the defence to touch down under the posts, allowing Ruari Maher to restore Nenagh’s 14 point lead.
Clonmel continued to exert pressure on the Nenagh lads for the remainder of the game and scored two more tries of their own. However, they were unable to convert any of them and the Nenagh lads held out for a four point victory.
The squad who travelled were Michael Bourke , Jack Dunne, Luke Fahey, Peter Folen, Darragh Flannery, Kyle Gilmartin, Stephen Harding, Eamon Hough, Michael Kennedy, Ruari Maher, Shane Mitchell-Steed, Daniel Molamphy, Orrin Moore, Conor O’Brien, Eddie O’Dwyer, Cianan O’hAnlauin, Jake O’Kelly, Martin Rainsford, Cathal Ryan, Peter Ryan, Tommy Wells.
Under 14’s 12-12 Ennis
Nenagh hosted Ennis on Sunday morning in Tyone in a challenge match. The early exchanges were very even with the two sets of forwards testing each other out however it was Nenagh who were playing into a strong breeze who kept the ball in hand and controlled the pace of the game better than the opposition. The Nenagh pack led by Luke Connolly made some great drives into the twenty two and ten minutes into the match Nenagh were rewarded with number eight Jack O’Keeffe getting over for a well worked try. The try was converted by Jack Moran and Nenagh had an early 7 – 0 lead. From the restart Ennis who were playing with a strong breeze behind them kept the play in Nenagh’s half of the pitch for the next ten minutes but were unable to score. Nenagh’s tight five of Eoghan Slevin, Patrick Whelan, Luke Connolly, Lorcan Tuohy and Ruan O’Hanluain were working hard in the rucks and mauls which allowed the Nenagh back line of James Ferris, Owen Farrell, Jack Moran, Patrick Finn, Conor McMahon, Kevin Harding and Oisín Larkin to put some good passing movements together. The Nenagh backs were unable to break down the Ennis defence and it was the Ennis forwards who in the final minutes of the first half drove into the Nenagh twenty two and scored under the posts to tie up the score at half time 7 -7.
After the interval Nenagh started to win more ruck ball with the back row of Dylan Knight, Jack O’Keeffe and Oisín McMahon covering a huge amount of ground and winning some great ball on the ground. With the Nenagh backs getting more ball Jack Moran made some great breaks through the Ennis line and was unlucky not to score on at least one occasion. The Ennis players then took a leaf out of the Nenagh play sheet and started to keep the ball in hand playing into the wind and once again it was their large pack who drove the ball up the field and with Nenagh continuing to get on the wrong side of the referee and conceding a large amount of penalties Ennis capitalised on this and their forwards scored another try to give them a 12 – 7 lead. From the restart Nenagh drove back up the field however they were finding it very hard to keep the play in the Ennis twenty two and every time they started to exert pressure on the Ennis line they conceded a penalty which allowed Ennis to kick the ball back into the Nenagh half however the back three of Kevin Harding, Conor McMahon and Oisín Larkin covered these kicks very well and ran back at Ennis. This Nenagh team have not lost this season but things were looking ominous for them with only a couple of minutes on the clock. Nenagh managed to drive into the Ennis twenty two and the Nenagh front row of Eoghan Slevin, Patrick Whelan and Luke Connolly who had worked tirelessly all day were rewarded with a great drive which put captain on the day Luke Connolly over for a try in the right hand corner. Nenagh were unable to covert the try and the match ended in a 12 all draw.
Nenagh Team: Eoghan Slevin, Patrick Whelan, Luke Connolly, Ruan O’Hanluain, Lorcan Tuohy, Dylan Knight, Jack O’Keeffe, Oisín McMahon, James Ferris, Owen Farrell, Kevin Harding, Jack Moran, Patrick Finn, Conor McMahon, Oisín Larkin, Kian O’Kelly, Oisín Webb, Matthew Hodgins and Roan Harte-Murphy.
Under 13’s v Clanwilliam RFC
On Sunday, January 11th, we travelled down to Tipperary town to play our first league match in the East Munster League. Conditions were dry but bitter cold and the Galtee Mountains in the background were covered in snow.
From the kick-off we were straight on the attack and after an infringement at the ruck Hugh Guest slotted the penalty to give us an early lead. However, some poor defending on our part in the following passages of play saw Clanwilliam run in two unconverted tries to lead 10-3. We were back on level terms after some lovely passing saw Dylan Murphy charge over for a great try converted by Hugh. We were undone again by our defending and finished the half poorly, going in 20-10 down at half-time.
We had a big improvement in our overall play in the second half. After a slow start and conceding again we showed huge character and guts to claw our way back into the game and get over for three more tries – Hugh Guest, Dylan Murphy again and Rory Moylan each touching down – after great teamwork and some lovely offloading. We finished up losing 36-25 but we can take a lot of positives from a much better display in the second half. We have plenty of things to work on before our second league match at home to Kilfeacle on Sunday week.
Thanks to all the supporters who travelled and thanks also to Clanwilliam for the sporting game and the refreshments after the match.
Match Panel: Jake Clarke, James Duff, Luke Gleeson, Hugh Guest, Jack Hassett, Liam King, James Meagher, Rory Moylan, Brian Murphy, Dylan Murphy (Capt.), Cian McInerney, Eoin O’Meara, Anthony O’Donovan, David O’Sullivan, Enda Shanahan, Sean Richardson, Shane Whelan, Jack White, Danny Wilkinson
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