All Ireland League Round 10
Report by Mike McMahon
Nenagh Ormond 38 34 UCC
This was another thrilling tussle between Nenagh and UCC to kick off the new year, another extraordinary last play finish and a sixth consecutive All Ireland League victory for this Nenagh team who keep finding a way to win tight games.
Nenagh won the reverse fixture before Christmas with a bonus point and UCC would have been very disappointed to come away with nothing from that game.
Nenagh have a habit of starting slowly and it would be UCC who struck first through their excellent centre Gene O’Leary Kareem who bamboozled the home defence with some terrific footwork and sprinted clear to score the game’s opening try after only two minutes.
It wasn’t long before Nenagh got into their stride however and a Charlie O’Doherty penalty after 6 minutes reduced the deficit to four. Shortly after the restart, Nenagh centre Angus Blackmore broke clear through the UCC defence and brought his team to within sight of the try line. The home pack stayed patient and after a number of drives which came up just short, prop Jack O’Keeffe dived over to give his side the lead.
A short time later, some excellent team play by Nenagh brought them deep into UCC territory and from a 5 metre line-out, they executed perfectly to maul over in the corner – the touchdown coming from hooker Dylan Murphy. O’Doherty converted brilliantly from the touchline and Nenagh were now in command leading 24-7.
After almost breaking through from a quickly thrown lineout, Nenagh struck again on 30 minutes. Another brilliantly executed lineout and unstoppable maul put Murphy in for his second try and Nenagh now seemed in total command.
UCC were in deep trouble and needed an immediate response. Quick hands gave winger Sean Condon an opportunity on the left and he shrugged off two defenders to touch down in the corner to get his side back in the game.
Six minutes later, a scrum penalty allowed UCC to set up good field position from which they worked a 5 metre lineout. After a couple of failed attempts, the visitors finally crossed for their third try through number 8 Peter Hyland. After dominating much of the half, Nenagh would have been disappointed with a half time score of 24-17.
Nenagh’s line-out maul is becoming a serious weapon and they very nearly scored from it early in the second half. UCC rode their luck a little in the opening minutes of the second period but on 57 minutes they worked a position close to the line from which replacement hooker Luke McCauliffe drove over. Remarkably, the scores were now tied at 24-24 to set up what proved to be a grandstand finish.
Charlie O’Doherty latched on to an excellent Ben Pope long pass to regain the lead for Nenagh but UCC responded within two minutes when second row Conor Ryan found a gap in the home defence to level the scores once again at 31-31.
A Gene O’Leary Kareem penalty in the final minutes seemed to have clinched the game for UCC but their celebrations were put on hold as referee Paul O’Connor indicated there was still time for more play. Nenagh went in search of the winning score and came close when a Derek Corcoran cross-field kick found replacement Davy Gleeson on the right wing. The chance seemed to be gone when he was driven into touch but John O’Flaherty got up brilliantly to steal the resultant line-out and Nenagh held their nerve once more to eventually get over through prop Mikey Doran.
Charlie O’Doherty kicked 6 from 6 in a highly polished all-round performance with his 100% return from the tee ultimately proving the difference between the two sides.
Nenagh remain in second place but now trail Old Belvedere by only 3 points and will travel to Naas next week in round 11 with their promotion aspirations still very much alive. UCC will be disappointed not to have held out for the win, but they remain in 5th and will still have ambitions to force their way into a promotion play-off slot.
Nenagh Ormond: 1. Mikey Doran, 2. Dylan Murphy, 3. Jack O’Keeffe, 4. Craig Hannon, 5. Kevin O’Flaherty (c), 6. Jake O’Kelly, 7. Evan Murphy, 8. John O’Flaherty, 9. Nicky Irwin, 10. Ben Pope, 11. Josh Rowland, 12. Patrick Scully, 13. Angus Blackmore, 14. Conor O’Shaughnessy, 15. Charlie O’ Doherty, 16. Shane Malone, 17. Sean Frawley, 18. Fionn O’Meara, 19. Joseph Coffey, 20. David Gleeson, 21. Derek Corcoran
UCC: 1. Mike Cogan, 2. Adam Wrona, 3. Danny McCarthy, 4. Sam O’Sullivan (c), 5. Conor Ryan, 6. Michael Foy, 7. Kamil Nowak, 8. Peter Hyland, 9. Jack Casey, 10. Harry Murphy, 11. Sean Condon, 12. Rory O’Shaughnessy, 13. Gene O’Leary Kareem, 14. Neville O’Leary, 15 Dave Cogan, 16. Luke McAuliffe, 17. Sean Dunne, 18. Darragh O’Connell, 19. Cillian Toland, 20. Andrew O’Mahony, 21. Evan Clarke
