Thomond 15-16 Nenagh Ormond Senior XV
The Ormonds took another large step towards promotion on Saturday last in Liam Fitzgerald Park where they defeated Thomond by the narrowest of margins. There’s a long tradition of close and exciting matches between both teams and last Saturday added another chapter in this history. In 50 years time supporters of both teams will probably still recall the day that John Lillis kicked the winning penalty from almost the half way line to give Nenagh a win that was probably a little tough on Thomond, who had contributed hugely to an absorbing contest.
Thomond were as always a force up front and had an excellent scrum half in Fiach O’Loughlin, former Ireland Under 19 captain, who knew how to control territory. In the first quarter, Nenagh hardly left their own half. In that time, the visitors conceded a few penalties and the Thomond fullback kicked them with some authority. On one of the rare visits to Thomond territory, Nenagh did win a penalty and in tricky conditions and from a good distance, Dan Fogarty curled one in beautifully to hit the target to bring Nenagh level in fact at 3-3. Two further penalties by fullback Fitzgerald were the sum total of the scoring for the half.
At 9-3 down, Nenagh had it all to do in the second half, but it seemed that with the bigger pack, the slight wind advantage and by reducing the error count the goal was achievable. Early in the second half Nenagh reduced the deficit with another well struck Dan Fogarty penalty. Thomond had clearly decided that some open rugby was necessary to get a score that might kill off the Nenagh ambition and as it turned out it was their undoing. Nenagh had been reduced to 14 men following a Ger Hermse yellow card, when Thomond complicated things a little in midfield, and in stepped Nathan Daly with an intercept close to half way. He was almost caught by the covering defence, but eventually dotted down half way out to the right of the posts and Dan Fogarty, with a difficult conversion that would ultimately prove decisive, gave Nenagh an unlikely lead at 9-13.
From the restart, Thomond came right back and forced a penalty close in that looked a formality for Fitzgerald who had been so accurate in the first half. To the surprise of all, he missed. Almost more so than the surprise try, this miss seemed to galvanise the Nenagh lads to greater effort. However hard Nenagh tried though, Thomond kept coming back and some desperate defence was required to keep them out. A bit of luck too played a part as Thomond’s chief scoring weapon Fitzgerald seemed to have lost his nerve and missed another kick that on first half form would have looked like a sure thing. Kevin O’Flaherty received a yellow card which left Nenagh briefly down to 13. They were just back to full strength when they were permanently reduced to fourteen men when Ger Hermse was sin binned for a high tackle.
The Thomond pressure never let up and Nenagh had to play out the game with fourteen men and a slender one point lead after Fitzgerald did eventually nail one. Buoyed by the numeric advantage, Thomond laid siege to the Nenagh line and eventually the pressure told. With only minutes left on the clock they took the lead with a simple penalty. Once again though from the restart, Nenagh won the ball and in a desperate attempt to retrieve it, the home side conceded a needless penalty. The wind was tricky but favouring Nenagh slightly. After a bit of debate with the referee, the visitors decided on the kick and John Lillis was chosen as most likely to rescue matters from close on half way.
Up he stepped to the kick and with a mighty swing sent it soaring well over the crossbar. The joy and relief among the Ormond lads was amazing to behold after this get out of jail performance and indeed, the large support on the side lines weren’t holding back either. The score of 15-16 means that it is happy days for Nenagh now with four fixtures left in the league, three of which are at home and one of them against nearest challengers Greystones who are six points behind. This of course means that Nenagh now have total control of their own destiny in the race for promotion. In fact, if they win all three home fixtures, they will have won promotion before travelling to Ards for the last game of the season in April.
The only downside is that the day Nenagh host Greystones, the result of which could theoretically make them champions, is the final day of the six nations when all three matches are played consecutively. Lots of competition for hearts and minds that day then. At least the Ireland match will be the latest played on the day so both can be taken in without recourse to the old Sky plus.
Nenagh Ormond: John Coffey, Peter O’Connor, Fergal Brislane, Jamie Quigley, Kevin O’Flaherty, Shane O’Callaghan (Capt), Anthony Grey, Lemeki Vaipulu, Eoin Gardiner, Mike Fogarty, Dan Fogarty, Nathan Daly, Derek Corcoran, Gerard Hermse, John Lillis.
Subs: Damien Dunne, Michael Slattery, Conor Brislane, Kevin Seymour, Jack Donovan
Nenagh Seconds 20-27 Shannon
Nenagh Ormond Seconds played Shannon at home on Sunday last. Shannon started well and got over the line for a try which went unconverted. Nenagh came back at them hard and put some good phases together to get back into the Shannon half. After some unconverted chances, they eventually won a penalty which Denis Slattery slotted and this brought them back to within two points. Nenagh kept the pressure up, continuing to push for the next score and they were rewarded with a good try from Ger O’Gorman. Unfortunately, Shannon made their first foray of the second quarter into the Nenagh half just before half time and managed to score, leaving Nenagh trailing 8-12.
The second half proved a tough 40 minutes for the lads. With a try putting Shannon ahead 8-17, Nenagh picked up a red card when they questioned a close call by the touch judge. The remaining 14 dug deep and managed to score two further tries through Andrew Mackey and Paudie Bourke, one of which was converted, despite a well-organised and dogged defence from Shannon. The work rate was outstanding from all of the Nenagh lads during this half and at times it looked as though the teams had equal numbers. Nenagh were now in front 20-17 and Shannon spent the final ten minutes battering their defensive line. The Nenagh lads were tiring but Shannon had to work hard to break them down. Shannon eventually managed to use their extra man and they won first a penalty and then went over for a try.
The final score was Nenagh Seconds 20-27 Shannon but despite this, each and every one of the Nenagh players can be proud of a committed team performance.
Team: Paudie Bourke, Aidan Doyle, Conor Brislane, Kevin O’Gorman, Colin Feeley, Kevin Seymour, Andrew Mackey, Chris O’Meara, Bruce Hayes, Denis Slattery, Sean White, John Long, Shane Quinlan, Ger O’Gorman, Jack Donovan. Rep: Marek Gribbs.
Shannon 15-24 Nenagh Ladies
Nenagh Ladies travelled to Coonagh on the Monday night of last week for a League/Cup double up against Shannon. Through a mixture of weather conditions and walkovers, the Ladies had not played a game since the corresponding home fixture against Shannon on December 15th and the girls knew that match fitness and rustiness were bound to play a big part in this game. Nenagh started well, holding on to the ball and keeping their shape which resulted in a good foothold in Shannon’s 22. Marie Louise Ryan picked from the back of a ruck and powered through the defence for a great try. Emma Dunlea slotted the difficult touchline conversion to leave the girls ahead by 7 points.
It was at this point that the rustiness set in and the following 15 minutes was a real tug of war between the teams. Nenagh’s defensive line was not functioning as well as usual and this resulted in Shannon eventually exploiting an overlap to get over the try line. Nenagh worked hard before the break and backs and forwards linked well to put Caroline Cahalan through for their second try, leaving the half time score at 5-12.
Shannon were first to score in the second half and the 10-12 scoreline remained the same for much of the half. Nenagh’s lack of game time was evident with Shannon able to win a number of turnovers. However, the girls did put together some good phases in patches and one such period saw Genevieve Rowland tap a penalty in the Shannon 22 and, after several phases, she ran a good line to break through. Dunlea converted. Soon after, Rowland again saw the gap and, picking from the back of a ruck inside her own half, beat the defenders for pace and touched down out wide to leave Nenagh ahead by 24 points to 10. Shannon came back hard however and they scored another try before the end much to the disappointment of the Nenagh girls, leaving the final score at 15-24 in Nenagh’s favour.
Training every Wednesday and Friday, new players always welcome. Contact Eithne Darcy on 087-2940928 for details.
Team: Anna Nolan, Margaret Hogan, Breda Doheny, Eithne Darcy, Emma Dunlea, June Whelan, Vanessa Chadwick, Gillian Ryan, Marie Louise Ryan, Sarah Corcoran, Catherine McGill, Hazel Slevin, Sinead Hennessy, Genevieve Rowland (capt).
Under 13’s 22-5 Ennis
Nenagh Ormond Under 13’s hosted Ennis on Sunday morning in Tyone. Nenagh began very strongly with the Nenagh forwards putting a huge amount of pressure on the Ennis pack. This forward pressure allowed the Nenagh backs to launch great back movements. However, totally against the run of play, Ennis managed to rob the ball from Nenagh in their own twenty-two and their winger ran the length of the pitch to score a breakaway try. From the kick off Nenagh were once again attacking the Ennis line and the Nenagh forwards nearly got over the Ennis line on a number of occasions. With the Nenagh pack so dominant at this stage Nenagh then turned to their backs and some great handling allowed full back Oisin Larkin in for a well-deserved try. There was no respite for Ennis as the Nenagh forwards continued to dominate the rucks and mauls. This domination once again allowed the Nenagh backs to show their handling skills and speed and centre Matthew Hodgins got in for two tries before half time leaving Nenagh 17-5 up at the interval.
Nenagh had the luxury of having a large squad of players on the day and were able to roll on and off substitutes. However in the second half Ennis got more into the game and they managed to retain possession for long periods. Great tackling from the Nenagh back row in particular kept Ennis from crossing the Nenagh line. Nenagh soaked up a lot of pressure in the second half and with five minutes to go the Nenagh forwards won some good turnover ball on their own 10 metre line. Some slick passing from the half backs sent the ball into midfield and allowed Matthew Hodgins to run from the halfway line to score his third try of the day. This gave Nenagh a well-deserved 22-5 win.
We have league matches coming up over the next couple of weekends and we have organised for one of the Nenagh Senior players to come and show us some useful techniques at this Wednesday’s training session and we would therefore hope that all players will attend.
Nenagh Team: Daragh Butler, Jack Collins, Luke Connolly, Owen Farrell, James Ferris, Patrick Finn, Kevin Harding, Matthew Hodgins, Roan Harte-Murphy, Dylin Knight, Oisin Larkin, Conor Malone, Cian O’Farrell, Peter Rainsford, Eoghan Slevin, Oisin Webb, Patrick Whelan, Conor McMahon, Jack O’Keeffe, Kian O’Kelly.
Table Quiz
Nenagh Ormond’s annual Table Quiz takes place in the Dapp Inn this Friday, February 21st. €30 per table of 4. Raffle on the night with a great first prize: two tickets for Munster’s Heineken Cup Quarter Final.
Membership
Please note that membership for this season is now overdue. All coaches and players must be members of the club. International and Provincial tickets are allocated based on membership. Please forward any outstanding subs to Michael Mackey (086-2578298) as soon as possible.
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