Photograph: Nenagh Ormond Senior XV in action during last Saturday's AIL game against Cashel.
Senior XV
Cashel 19-12 Nenagh Ormond
Nenagh Ormond Senior XV made the short trip to Cashel on Saturday last. The earlier wet conditions had cleared up by kick off and apart from one short heavy shower the rain stayed away but left conditions slippery nonetheless.
The first half of the game saw Cashel with the majority of the possession and they made it count, slotting two early penalties. Nenagh struggled to get into the game and when Cashel got into Nenagh’s 22 they recycled well in tight for several phases and created an overlap out wide. They capitalised as soon as this arose, putting the ball through the hands quickly to score out wide. They added the conversion to go ahead 13-0.
When Cashel added another penalty to go ahead 16-0, the game looked out of reach. Dan Fogarty’s penalty to leave the half-time score at 16-3 seemed scant consolation. However, Nenagh started the second half with increased hunger and they began to get back into the game, keeping possession and gaining territory. They opted to kick any chances they got and Dan Fogarty’s 3 penalties, including one long-range kick to the left of the posts, got them back to within touching distance.
Although every Nenagh player worked hard, the errors of the first half crept back in as the game went on and Cashel made their way back into the Nenagh half. Nenagh defended well and won a penalty in the middle of the pitch which took them outside the 22. Unfortunately, a mix-up in the lineout handed possession back to Cashel and they came at Nenagh with renewed intensity. They held possession well and eventually won a penalty to take the score to 19-12.
Nenagh will be glad to have taken a point at least from the match but are sure to be disappointed with the performance. Next up for the lads are City of Derry at home on Saturday and they will be hoping to take full points from the game to maintain their position in the League.
Team: Dan Fogarty, Misi Salave, Mark Doyle, Trevor Connolly, Ruaidhri O’Brien, Mike Fogarty, Eoin Gardiner, Fergal Brislane, Peter O’Connor, Jonathan Hayes, Kevin Seymour, Kevin O’Flaherty, Mike Slattery, Anthony Grey, Anthony Kavanagh. Reps: John Healy, John Coffey, Cronan Gleeson, John Lillis.
Nenagh Ladies 10-15 St. Senan’s
Nenagh Ormond Ladies had a home fixture against St. Senan’s last Sunday in their fifth match of the All Ireland League. The girls started well and had the majority of the possession in the first quarter. However, St. Senan’s were hungry and were quick to take advantage of any opportunity to turn over the ball. This led to St. Senan’s having the first real scoring chance with a kick at goal which they narrowly missed. Nenagh also missed a kick at goal in this period and it was some time into the game before the first score came.
Nenagh gradually began to commit more to rucks and put together a good spell of possession inside the St. Senan’s half. Marie Louise Ryan, who had a storming game, broke through to take Nenagh to within ten metres of the line. The support was good, allowing quick ball and fullback Annie Leahy made the final pass to Sandra Williams who ran around the defence to score leaving the half time score at 5-0 to the home side.
In the second half, St. Senan’s began to come more in to the game and put Nenagh under pressure inside their own 22. Senan’s pressed their advantage and began pounding the Nenagh try line. Nenagh held out but gave away a string of penalties which resulted in two Nenagh players receiving yellow cards for repeated team offences. With a two-man advantage, Senan’s eventually sucked in the Nenagh defence and flashed the ball wide to score in the corner. The Nenagh defence was spread thin and Senan’s followed up a few minutes later with another try, this one under the posts, when they broke through the line to go ahead by 12 points to 5.
Just before the return of the two sin bins, St. Senan’s added a penalty to their total to stretch the gap to ten points. All credit to Nenagh, they came straight back at them and were rewarded with a try to bring the score to 10-15 and to secure the losing bonus point.
The girls have a well-deserved break this weekend before their next AIL game away to Dungarvan/Youghal on November 23rd.
Team: Annie Leahy, Deirdre Ahern, Breda Doheny, Adeline Harty, Therese Nolan, Sandra Williams, Ciara McCullough, Helena Hanrahan, Catherine McGill, Nicolette Finn, Denise Williams, Aisling O’Neill, Sinead Hennessy, Paula Ryan, Marie Louise Ryan. Reps: June Whelan, Grace Donovan.
Thurles 16-21 Under 16’s
Nenagh Ormond Under 16’s continued their league campaign with a hard fought 21-16 victory away to Thurles on Sunday. The failure of the appointed referee to turn up led to the Thurles coach refereeing the match. This all-too-often occurrence often leads to situations where away supporters might claim unfair bias on behalf of the referee and Sunday’s game was no exception.
An early penalty put Thurles three points up after just five minutes. Nenagh however came back into the match and Tommy Wells continued his try-scoring exploits with a score following a blindside run from the base of a ruck from ten metres out to score in the corner. Fiachra Carey scored the difficult conversion to put Nenagh 7 points to 3 in front.
Thurles came back into the game and their danger-man Eddie O’Gorman, who scored an amazing six tries in the corresponding fixture last season, was once again on the mark following a good back line move to score an unconverted try which left Thurles one point ahead at half time.
Thurles came further into the game in the second half with O’Gorman once again to the fore, scoring in the corner following some slick back line passing. Thurles outhalf Jack Flanagan missed a difficult conversion to put Thurles 13-7 in front. Within five minutes, Nenagh were back in front when quick thinking from Tommy Wells saw him take a quick penalty from close in to dive over for his second try. Once again Fiachra Carey scored the conversion to leave Nenagh 14-13 in front.
With the penalty count mounting up against Nenagh, the referee awarded Thurles a penalty under the posts which outhalf Flanagan slotted over to put Thurles back in front 16-14 with ten minutes remaining.
However Tommy Wells wasn’t finished and with five minutes remaining he charged down an attempted clearance from Jack Flanagan and gathered the ball to dive over and complete his hat-trick. Once again Fiachra Carey scored the difficult conversion to put Nenagh 21-16 in front. This was Tommy’s sixth try in three league matches and his tenth overall in seven matches this season.
Nenagh had to withstand a succession of penalties on their line in the last few minutes and survived a scare when a Thurles player was adjudged to have knocked–on over the line when attempting to score with the last play of the game.
The squad who travelled were, Michael Bourke, Diarmuid Boyle, Fiacara Carey, Nathan Deely-O’Meara, Ben Duff, Jack Dunne, Eoin England, Conor Fahey, Luke Fahey, Darragh Flannery, Kyle Gilmartin, Stephen Harding, Ronan Kelly, Michael Kennedy, Sam Kroupa, Shane Mitchell-Steed, Daniel Molamphy, Luke Mooney, Orrin Moore, Colum Moylan, Evan Murphy, Tommy Murphy, Conor O’Brien, Eddie O’Dwyer, Cianan O’hAnlauin, Jake O’Kelly, Seamus O’Meara, Mark O’Neill, Martin Rainsford, Cathal Ryan, Peter Ryan, Tommy Wells, Sam West, Aaron White.
Under 13’s
Our Under 13’s travelled down to Clonmel on Sunday morning and just shaded the encounter by a single point when coming from behind in Munsteresque fashion with a converted try in the final act of the game. We were ahead 14-0 in the first half but conceded four tries despite some great work in defence and last ditch heroics on Clonmel’s part to keep us from adding to our score.
Clonmel were short so we played 14 a-side. We started on the front foot and carried the game to Clonmel from the outset. After a sustained spell of attack we found ourselves close to their 22m line. Eoin O’Meara sent the ball to the right from the base of a ruck and the backs moved the ball out to the wing where James Duff set off on a looping run around the scrambling Clonmel defence and he skinned them all to touch down in the corner. Up stepped Hugh Guest to land a great conversion from the most difficult angle for a right-footed kicker. Looking to move the ball wide whenever the opportunity presented itself in the early exchanges, we continued to make progress towards the try line when finally the ball came to David O’Sullivan and they had no answer to his power and strength as he burst through and touched down just to the left of the posts. Hugh duly converted. At this stage we were totally dominant in all areas.
However, we couldn’t maintain this pace and Clonmel gradually started to get a foothold in the game. Just before half-time they got in for their first try after a nice move involving a switch pass between their scrum-half and the centre saw the former finally feed their winger who had a clear run to the try line as our defence had become too narrow. Luke Gleeson was doing great defensive work on his wing but a leg injury meant he had to take a break from the action. Ben West came on in his place for his début and played well there and in the forwards where his strength was required later.
Then a leg injury to David O’Sullivan just after the start of the second-half, seemed to hand them the initiative and missing David’s physicality, we found ourselves on the back foot for long stretches. We did battle on but a few defensive lapses and a lack of aggression at times in defending our own ball at the ruck saw us turnover possession too easily and hand the initiative to our opponents. This weakness was to put us back on the defensive when we were attempting to build some momentum ourselves. A lesson to be learned for the future as this period of the game saw them run in three well worked tries. Yet our forwards all had big games individually: Sean Richardson, Jack Deane, Enda Shanahan, James Meagher, Shane Whelan, Rory Moylan and Danny Wilkinson didn’t shirk the hard work and were not afraid to get stuck in. They tackled hard and carried excellently throughout.
We never stopped trying though and always looked to attack when we got our hands on the ball and we did engineer a couple of opportunities to try and add to our tally. Liam King made a great break, evaded two defenders just inside their 22m line and bolted for the try line seeming certain to score only to be brought down in full flight by an ankle tap just short of the line. Clonmel recovered to clear the danger and once again we were denied.
Jack Hassett acquitted himself in his first start in the front row and worked hard in the thick of the action. Anthony O’Donovan tackled hard in defence and showed some deft touches to put teammates clear.
Our half-backs Eoin O’Meara and Hugh Guest were always in the thick of the action and led the back line well. They were ably assisted by Joe Cooney and Liam King as well as Conor White and Jack Meehan. Ben West started his first game for NORFC on the wing in place of Luke Gleeson but was then drafted into the pack where he used his strength to good effect.
Clonmel went 20-14 ahead near the end of the game with their fourth unconverted try. But in one final act of defiance we worked the ball upfield thanks to a great burst from James Duff before he was felled and injured in the process. His departure saw the reintroduction of David O’Sullivan and after a penalty to Nenagh on the Clonmel 22, Eoin O’Meara got the ball to him and he burst forward towards the try line only to be brought down inches short. All seemed lost but David popped the ball up to James Meagher who was in close support and we were rewarded for our perseverance and determination. Hugh followed up with his fourth conversion and the full-time whistle sounded. The Nenagh players and supporters erupted in shouts of delight as we snatched an unlikely victory from the jaws of defeat.
We would like to thank Clonmel RFC for the sporting game and their hospitality afterwards. That they came up short was only down to the width of a post. Once again a big thank you to all the parents who made the long journey. Training continues every Wed evening in Tyone from 6.30 to 8pm. New players always welcome.
Match Panel: Joe Cooney, Jack Deane, James Duff, Luke Gleeson, Hugh Guest, Jack Hassett, Liam King, James Meagher, Jack Meehan, Rory Moylan, Eoin O’Meara, Anthony O’Donovan, David O’Sullivan, Enda Shanahan, Sean Richardson, Ben West, Shane Whelan, Jack White, Conor White, Danny Wilkinson
Under 12’s
Nenagh Ormond Under 12’s played Cashel before the Senior game on Saturday and came up against a very skilful home team. The final score of 6 tries to 1 in favour of Cashel was a fair reflection of the game. Despite tireless work from most of our players, some of our first up tackling was just not good enough and every time Cashel spread the ball we were in trouble. In fairness, Nenagh never stopped trying and were a much improved side in the second half of the game. In the end it was not enough but they kept at it and with the last play Eoghan Tighe got our only score.
With a smaller squad than usual travelling, everybody got lots of game time which will stand to them and hopefully with lots of hard work in training we can improve on the areas that let us down today.
Thanks to all the players and parents for making the switch to a Saturday game and to Cashel RFC who were fantastic hosts.
Team: Patrick Fogarty, Jack Gleeson, George O’Leary, Paddy Ryan, Barry Ryan, Tommy Ryan, John Brislane, Sonny Dower, Niall O’Sullivan, Peter Collins, Sean Fitzgerald, James Finn, Eoghan Tighe, Evan Rainsford, Daire Slevin.
Photograph: Our Under 12's showing their skills on Saturday last.
Under 9’s & 10’s
Last Saturday 35 Under 9's and 10's travelled to Cashel RFC to play their Cashel counterparts. We divided our teams into one U9 team and two U10 teams. We had 14 U 9's and 21 U10's and we played a good hour of rugby against the home team. Our rugby is improving steadily since the beginning of the season. We scored some fabulous tries, and our tackling, ball movement and defence was top notch. All our young players got loads of game time and everybody enjoyed the morning of rugby on a lovely dry day. We then took part in a guard of honour to clap out both Nenagh and Cashel senior teams.
We sincerely thank the parents who made the effort to travel down to Cashel, all the kids are a credit to their families and to our club. We also thank Cashel RFC for a very sporting day of rugby, excellent organisation and quality refreshments afterwards.
Hard luck to our brave seniors who came very close to beating a very good Cashel team - keep up the good work guys. A big well done to Joe Schmidt and his Irish team on beating South Africa later that day.
Training continues next Sunday morning at 10am in Lisatunny - new members, especially girls, are always welcome. If you have any enquiries about joining or getting involved please contact Ger Ryan @ 087 9906206.
Photograph: Under 10 player Caitriona gets away with the ball, watched closely by Darragh, Harry and Eoghan.
Under 8’s
The Nenagh Ormond Under 8’s put on a strong performance in defeating a good Cashel side prior to the A.I.L. game on Saturday. The work on tackling in training is paying off and Nenagh were able to knock the bigger Cashel players back time and again.
Jack Casey, Kevin O'Reilly, Robert Powell and Ryan Gratton were prominent in the tight and Nenagh prospered when getting the ball to speedy wide men, Fionn Higgins, Joe O'Dwyer and Darragh O'Dwyer.
Special mention must go to Darragh O'Dwyer, who was playing his first game of rugby on the day and excelled throughout. Also to his cousin Joe who robbed a lot of ball from bigger opponents, and to Mark Manley who was to the fore in attack and defence all game.
Training continues at 10am next Sunday in Lisatunny. New players always welcome.
Team: Jack Casey, Kevin O'Reilly, Fionn Higgins, Joe O'Dwyer, Darragh O'Dwyer, Robert Powell, Cian Hogan, Brendan Ryan, Mark Manley, Ryan Gratton, David Hogan, Cillian Healy, Sean Kennedy.
Photograph: Under 8 game between Cashel and Nenagh Ormond.
Under 7’s
Nenagh Ormond fielded two under 7's teams against Cashel on Saturday last. All fifteen players from Nenagh played two matches. There were excellent tries scored with all players having an impact. Team play being prominent with good offloading and defensive play throughout. We can see how all players are improving throughout the session and the basic skills of rugby are being put into practice in their gameplay.
Photograph: Nenagh Ormond's victorious Under 7's after their game against Cashel last Saturday.
NORFC Bullying Workshops
In conjunction with North Tipperary Sports Partnership and Bully4u, Nenagh Ormond RFC as part of its Community Development Programme will be running the first of a series of Bullying workshops this Sunday in Lisatunny.
The workshops are aimed at both Players and Parents across all age groups and will cover topics such as Cyber Bullying.
Details of the workshops can be got from the relevant team managers and coaches.
Munster v Clermont Auvergne
Munster’s next home game in the European Rugby Champions Cup takes place in Thomond Park on Saturday, December 6th, at 5.30pm against Clermont Auvergne. Tickets should be ordered as soon as possible in order to avoid disappointment.
Please note that the procedure for ordering tickets for Munster and International matches has changed this year. To order tickets, please E-MAIL your name, the match and the number of tickets you wish to order to norfctickets@gmail.com.
Tickets are allocated to club members on a first-come, first-served basis.
IRFU Draw Tickets
The IRFU Grand Draw takes place in December and the prizes include Six Nations packages, a spa break and a home entertainment system! Tickets are still available from players, coaches and members.
Please note that all tickets, sold or unsold, must be returned to the club by the end of this week. Players can return tickets to their coach/team manager. All other tickets can be returned to Ger O’Gorman.
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