Nenagh Ormond U16’s continued their pan Munster phase 1 campaign with a game against unbeaten Bruff on Sunday at a sunny Lisatunney. With two unbeaten teams something had to give and with the unseasonal sunshine, conditions were perfect for a ding dong battle. And what a battle it was. Nenagh started very well and after 5 minutes some excellent attacking and continuity saw Luke O’Callaghan crash over by the posts, converted by Darragh Gleeson to give Nenagh the perfect start. Nenagh attacked at every opportunity and there was some great rucking by Ethan Kennedy, Dylan Crowe and the rest of the forwards to put Bruff under pressure. After 10 minutes Bruff were held on our  own 22 and Darragh Gleeson from a second phase attack stepped inside his opposite number accelerated through a gap and stepped on the gas, he rounded the full back to score wide out on the right for a great individual  80m try. His conversion was good with the assistance of the crossbar to give Nenagh a deserved 14-0 lead, which they held until half time. As expected Bruff came out all guns blazing in the second half, with their very vocal coaches and supporters making their presence felt. The scored an unconverted try after some pressure after 5 minutes as the battle intensity went up a few levels. They again caught Nenagh a bit narrow after 10 minutes played for another unconverted try to leave the score 14-10 at that stage. Nenagh were under pressure and unfortunately we lost Darragh Gleeson to injury and young Killian Healy stepped in the breach. Killian played very well but Nenagh lost a bit of their shape for a period and the pressure continued. Bruff kicked a penalty after 25 minutes to leave it a one point game. There were some great carries by Tommy Wilkinson and Conor McGrath and all the boys stepped up to the mark. With the game in injury time we worked our way into the Bruff 22 but a vital lineout was lost and Bruff made their way up the pitch and a break by their out half was held just short of the line but the support was there and the scored a converted try after 6 minutes of injury time to leave the final score 20-14 to the visitors. It was a gripping contest and full credit to both teams, it was multiple notches above the previous games in the group and showed that the Nenagh boys can mix it with the best of teams at this age grade. The line out led by Fionn O’Meara performed very well and all the forwards played their part, with some good carrries by Luke Grey and Stephen Armitage. Harry Sheppard was very solid at full back and ran the ball back with purpose and tackled his heart out. Tommy Wilkinson had a huge game in the centre, carried the ball when and rucked superbly. The squad remains very small and with some of the U15’s on the bench it was always going to be a challenge to hold out such as strong Bruff side. The final group game is away to Ennis next Sunday and a full attendance at training on Tuesday  at 7 and Thursday at 7.30 in Tyone will be required to finish out this block of games in a positive manner.

Squad- Luke Grey, Dylan Crowe, Luke O’Callaghan, Stephen Armitage, Oisin Flynn, Dan Keneally, Ethan Kennedy, Aaron McGrath, Fionn O’Meara, Oisin Moloney, Darragh Gleeson, Tommy Wilkinson, Conor McGrath, Harry Sheppard, Daniel O’Brien, Ryan Gratton, Adam Butler, Killian Healy, Donnacha O’Meara, Alex Ryan. Injured list: Luke Walsh, Conor Gleeson, Ciaran Leahy, Cathan Gaffney,