Nenagh Ormond U21s 18 Shannon U21s 14
Conditions were really tough on Wednesday night in Canal Bank where Shannon U21s hosted Nenagh U21s in the North Munster U21 League. Both of these sides had similar good wins over Bruff in the previous couple of weeks so this was always going to be a tough close encounter regardless of the weather.
Nenagh started well and camped inside the Shannon 22 but Shannon showed good composure and patience to keep Nenagh at bay and were able to relieve the pressure when a lineout went astray in the difficult conditions. It was Nenagh's turn then to front up in defence and, like Shannon earlier, they did this admirably. Eventually a ball went to ground and Evan Fitzpatrick kicked through and showed great pace to win the race and dot down for the first score of the night, also adding the conversion for a 7-0 lead. Shortly after Evan added a penalty and then during a penalty advantage smartly stepped back into the pocket to kick a terrific drop goal for a 13-0 half time lead.
The second half started well for Nenagh too. The pack were dominant in their carries making numerous entries into the Shannon 22 but were unable to convert any of the opportunities into points. Nenagh kept pushing in attack and on 50 minutes Joe Gleeson put through a nice kick, gathered himself and scored a great try in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed leaving the score at 18-0. Shannon refused to lie down and on the three quarter mark got in for a converted try to bring the score to 18-7. At this stage Nenagh's discipline began to let them down and a couple of yellow cards ensued. Despite that Nenagh held on well until the last play of the game when the defence finally broke and Shannon got in for a second try to leave the final score 18-14.
This was a great workout for both sides ahead of the Munster U21 Donal Walsh competition which begins for Nenagh in mid-October where our first game will be a repeat of this encounter. Another tight and tough encounter guaranteed if Wednesday is anything to go by.
Team: 1 Ivan Struzia, 2 Frankie Butler, 3 Joe Shanahan, 4 Fionn O'Meara, 5 Cillian Ryan, 6 Darragh Townsend, 7 Luke Conneally, 8 Robbie Tynan (c), 9 Luke Graham, 10 Evan Fitzpatrick (VC), 11 Joseph Gleeson, 12 Brian O'Rourke, 13 Ryan Thompson, 14 Conor McGrath, 15 Alex Moloney, 16 Dylan Crowe, 17 Nicky Nie, 18 Jack Butler, 19 Bill Cleare, 20 Tristan Madden, 21 Diarmuid Coleman, 22 Ryan Imhoff, 23 Sean Tormey
Conditions were really tough on Wednesday night in Canal Bank where Shannon U21s hosted Nenagh U21s in the North Munster U21 League. Both of these sides had similar good wins over Bruff in the previous couple of weeks so this was always going to be a tough close encounter regardless of the weather.
Nenagh started well and camped inside the Shannon 22 but Shannon showed good composure and patience to keep Nenagh at bay and were able to relieve the pressure when a lineout went astray in the difficult conditions. It was Nenagh's turn then to front up in defence and, like Shannon earlier, they did this admirably. Eventually a ball went to ground and Evan Fitzpatrick kicked through and showed great pace to win the race and dot down for the first score of the night, also adding the conversion for a 7-0 lead. Shortly after Evan added a penalty and then during a penalty advantage smartly stepped back into the pocket to kick a terrific drop goal for a 13-0 half time lead.
The second half started well for Nenagh too. The pack were dominant in their carries making numerous entries into the Shannon 22 but were unable to convert any of the opportunities into points. Nenagh kept pushing in attack and on 50 minutes Joe Gleeson put through a nice kick, gathered himself and scored a great try in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed leaving the score at 18-0. Shannon refused to lie down and on the three quarter mark got in for a converted try to bring the score to 18-7. At this stage Nenagh's discipline began to let them down and a couple of yellow cards ensued. Despite that Nenagh held on well until the last play of the game when the defence finally broke and Shannon got in for a second try to leave the final score 18-14.
This was a great workout for both sides ahead of the Munster U21 Donal Walsh competition which begins for Nenagh in mid-October where our first game will be a repeat of this encounter. Another tight and tough encounter guaranteed if Wednesday is anything to go by.
Team: 1 Ivan Struzia, 2 Frankie Butler, 3 Joe Shanahan, 4 Fionn O'Meara, 5 Cillian Ryan, 6 Darragh Townsend, 7 Luke Conneally, 8 Robbie Tynan (c), 9 Luke Graham, 10 Evan Fitzpatrick (VC), 11 Joseph Gleeson, 12 Brian O'Rourke, 13 Ryan Thompson, 14 Conor McGrath, 15 Alex Moloney, 16 Dylan Crowe, 17 Nicky Nie, 18 Jack Butler, 19 Bill Cleare, 20 Tristan Madden, 21 Diarmuid Coleman, 22 Ryan Imhoff, 23 Sean Tormey
