Nenagh Ormond 38 Newport 26

Last Friday evening Nenagh U14s took on local rivals Newport under lights in Lisatunney. It was a Plate semi-final against a team which beat us well earlier in the season. A large crowd of supporters turned up to cheer on both teams, and the cold dry night was ideal for rugby.

Nenagh started brightly, and straight from the kick off Mason gathered the ball and from inside his own half, rounded a number of defenders and scored a try. The game continued in this vein, with the forwards contesting fiercely for each ball, and once possession was secured the ball was moved quickly to our pacy backs. Mason went on to score a further 3 tries before half time, however Newport scored 2 fine tries under the post to leave the score 22 14 at half time.

In the second half we started on the front foot again with that man Mason scored his side's fifth. Back came Newport again to score their 3rd try, but the difficult conversion was missed. About 10 mins from the end Nenagh were awarded a scrum near the Newport line. With all eyes on Mason, a well-planned move saw Tristan, operating at 8, peel off the scrum on the blind side, and power over to score his side's 6th try. With the last play of the game Newport got over to score a converted try. This left the final score at 38 26 to Nenagh.

This was a hugely enjoyable game, played in good spirits by the 2 teams. In the past there has been very little between the sides, and the large crowd certainly enjoyed the evening. On the night the pack went well, Jack Mac and Sean Ryan were constant threats on both wings, Tadgh was solid at full back, and Mason, scoring 5 tries was in great form. We wish a speedy recovery to those that picked up knocks, especially William Murphy who was unable to start due to a knock picked up during the week. His tenacious tackling from the open side flanker position has been a revelation this season.

Overall a very positive performance albeit still a lot to work on.

Our thanks again to Hilary and Co for the catering, to the senior club for the use of the lights, to Tommy Moylan for refereeing and to our supporters who turned out in large numbers. Our thanks to a gallant Newport side for a fine sporting game, which went to the wire.

Team

William Fogarty Dylan Schweitnitz Josh Morgan Fintan O'Keefe Mikey Morgan Cillian Ryan capt John Mulvihill Tristan Madden Darragh Spillane Zac Keller Jack O Callaghan Mason Cawley Sean Ryan Jack McNamara Tadgh Gleeson

Reps

Cormac Sullivan for William Fogarty, Matthew Coffey for John Mulvihill, Jack Harford for Tristan and Danny Benn for Darragh Spillane.

Ref; Tommy Moylan