Nenagh Ormond U18.5’s had the long trek to Clonakility for the Munster Plate semi final against the fancied home team that had won all five of their phase two games to top their group. After a long trip it is always a worry how young players will respond but the Nenagh boys were ready from minute one last Saturday. Clon won the toss and surprisingly decided to play into the strong wind in the first half. After we won a penalty at a break down, the resulting lineout saw the ball transferred to Jack O Callaghan, who made an outside break, got to the full back and dummied him to go over for the opening try after only 3 minutes. Darragh Gleeson converted and we were up and running. From the kick off we took the ball into contact and recycled, allowing Diarmuid Coleman room at outhalf to make another searing break and to link with Jack in the centre who in turn put outside centre Mason Cawley away for an unconverted try giving us a 12-0 advantage after only 6 minutes. Clonakilty came back into the game but Nenagh’s defence and discipline was good and the next 15 minutes were nip and tuck. The concession of a couple of penalties and a yellow card for Dylan Crowe saw Clonakilty apply some pressure but their attacks were well handled by the boys. Then after 33 minutes and back to the full compliment, some great hands from Jack saw Mason put Darragh Gleeson away, with Conor Mc Grath in support to confuse the winger. Darragh rounded him to score a cracking try from our own half. The difficult conversion was missed and the ref blew for the short whistle, with the halftime score 17-0 to the away team.

With the strong wind and sleet and rain it was going to be tough to get up the field in the second half and it was always on the cards that Clon would come hard at us. After a blocked clearance kick a few minutes in we conceded a few early penalties and the pressure paid off, as Clon scored from a tapped 5 metre penalty. The conversion was wide and the gap was back to 17-7. After 10 minutes of the half Clon were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for offside but unfortunately for the Clon 10 the kick from 22 metres out, straight in front ,was taken by the wind and was wide right. There was some good defence and the first up tackling was excellent and we eventually made our way up field to have a strong attacking position in the Clon 22 but some wayward passing left the home team off the hook. But we won the ball back at the next lineout and a good burst by Dylan Crowe saw Nicky Nie crash over for another unconverted try to leave us 22-7 ahead. On 63 minutes we suffered another yellow to captain Cillian Ryan for a high tackle and Clon applied the pressure again. A brilliant breakout by the backs led by the returning Alex Maloney and Ryan Imhoff saw us relieve the pressure and Clon suffered two yellow cards, one for tackling a player on the ground and a harsh one for what appeared to be ahead of the kicker in the final minutes. From a scrum another good backline move saw Alex Moloney, returning from a long injury layoff, score a cracking try out wide. Again the difficult conversion held up in the wind. There were great scenes at the end for the travelling support when the referee blew full time, with the final score 27-7 and now the boys have a final in Musgrave Park to look forward to. Everyone on the team and the extended panel played their part on the day and in tricky conditions we played some excellent rugby against a gallant Clonakility side that never gave up. With the North Munster league final and now the Plate final to come it will be an exciting and busy time for the players. Many thanks to the parents that made the long journey to West Cork and training will continue with a lot of work still to be done before the games to come.

Team Nicky Nie, Dylan Crowe, Jess Robins, Sam Lancaster, Cillian Ryan (Captain) Jack Meagher, Ivan Struzia, Fionn O’Meara, Josh Powell, Diarmuid Coleman, Conor McGrath, Jack O’Callaghan, Mason Cawley, Tristen Madden Darragh Gleeson, Dan Keneally, Luke Grey, Luke O’Callaghan, Mikey Morgan, Oisin Moloney, Ryan Imhoff, Sean Tormey, Alex Moloney, Sean Ryan, Cathan Gaffney.