Nenagh Ormond 15-23 Killarney

Nenagh Ormond Under 16’s played Killarney in the semi-final of the Under 16 Munster Club Development Cup last Saturday in Newcastle West. The two teams had met just weeks before in the earlier rounds with Nenagh winning on that occasion by four points to knock Killarney out of the running for the Cup competition. With that kind of history and such a close scoreline, Nenagh knew that Killarney were going to be motivated to do whatever it took to win.

The opening quarter saw Killarney showing just that kind of attitude, making a couple of breaks and causing all sorts of problems for the Nenagh defence. Nenagh weathered the storm though and were determined to make possession count when they finally got hold of the ball. When they won a penalty 30 metres out, captain John Brislane pointed to the posts and James Finn slotted the kick to go 3-0 ahead. In the middle ten of the first half both sides had lost opportunities with Killarney knocking on over the line and Nenagh missing a penalty but Nenagh did have more possession and looked to be settling into the game. When Nenagh made ground up the middle, Brislane was on hand to take the offload and pass the ball out wide. With Killarney scrambling, a quick ruck got the ball back in to Finn and he scored and converted the try for a 10 point lead.

Minutes later when they won another penalty in Killarney territory, Nenagh kicked to the corner. From the lineout, the throw went over the heads of the jumpers and straight into the arms of second row Christian Storey who charged over the try line. With a 15 point lead things were looking good for Nenagh but just before half time Killarney came back at them and got on the scoreboard with a fine try to pull it back to 15-5 at the break.

Killarney crucially scored again not long after the restart when they went wide from a scrum. Nenagh were beaten on the outside and Killarney went in under the posts. Flanker Tom Kennedy bravely managed to block down the conversion to keep 5 points between the teams. However, the Kerry team kept the pressure on and eventually won a kickable penalty to reduce the gap to two points and then with just under ten minutes to go they scored and converted a try to go ahead by 20 points to 15. With plenty of time left to bridge the one-score gap, Nenagh threw everything they had left at their opponents but just a couple of minutes from the end a penalty pushed Killarney’s lead out to 8 points and sealed the result.

Well done to Killarney who showed great determination and both players and coaches were a credit to their club on the two occasions we met this season. We wish them the very best of luck for next week’s final in Irish Independent Park.

This defeat brings an end to our Pan Munster campaign which has been a great adventure for players and coaches alike. The idea is to provide meaningful rugby and we got that in spades. All of the matches were close, tense and enjoyable games against teams we haven’t played before and, all credit to them, these lads have matured a lot this season and have stuck together till the end every time. We have formed some new rivalries and also made friends along the way. As always in sport, there is little time to dwell on either the good or the bad and we move on now to the North Munster Cup, our final competition of the year, where we face St. Senan’s in the quarter final.

Team: Tomas Byrne, Kieran Tinkler, Adam Cleere, James Finn, Liam Cooney, Adam Steed, Andrew Ferris, Jack Gleeson, Sean Fitzgerald, Paddy Ryan, Christian Storey, Darragh Tucker, Tom Kennedy, John Brislane (c), Tom Lillis. Reps: Joe Shanahan, Arainn O’Sullivan, Cormac Kennedy, Luke Graham, Jack O’Flaherty, Luke Conneally.