Nenagh V Clanwilliam U16 Munster Conference

Report by Barry Meehan

Despite not being at their best, Nenagh ran out comfortable winners over Clanwilliam in the last round of Phase 1 of the U16 Boys Munster Clubs competition played at Lisatunny. Nenagh ran in 9 tries while Charlie Talbot kicked 5 conversions. Nenagh opened their account in the first minute when Michael Kennedy won a lineout on the Nenagh 22m line, the ball was moved wide to Oisin Gleeson who carried strongly to the halfway line and offloaded to Oscar Griffin who raced clear to score under the posts.  Nenagh's second try followed soon after. Following good work by Jack Tierney, the ball was recycled and moved wide for Oscar Griffin to score his second try. Nenagh added their third try when Oisin Gleeson scored out wide following a quick tap penalty. Then Clanwilliam managed to retain some possession and put Nenagh under some pressure and they scored three tries in quick succession to close the gap to two points. Nenagh then scored two more tries with Clanwilliam unable to handle some strong running by Dara Corish and Dara Gaynor. Clanwilliam managed to score again on the stroke of halftime to leave the halftime score 29-20.

It took one minute for Nenagh to increase their advantage in the second half. Dara Corish and Aaron Walsh chased hard and won the kick off allowing Jack Tierney to dot down for Nenagh's sixth try.  From the restart the ball went loose, and Clanwilliam pounced again to close the gap back to 9 points. But from then on Nenagh pulled clear, scoring three more tries while displaying a greater appetite in defence to keep Clanwilliam scoreless for the rest of the game. It was great to see the four new recruits, Brian Fogarty, Tomas McKenzie Cleary, John Carmody and Jamie Dorris being front and centre as Nenagh won by 9 tries to 5. Our next match is a friendly v Birr this Sunday at 12 noon in Nenagh. New players born in 2009 are always welcome. Training continues Wednesday and Friday at 8PM.