Nenagh Ormond Under 16’s v Killorglin 🔴⚪️

Nenagh Ormond u16’s concluded their Munster cup group campaign on Saturday last with the long trip to Killorglin. There was a massive wind blowing down the pitch and it was obvious it was going to be a game of two halves. Nenagh won the toss and elected to play with the wind. With no official referee and a local associate referee it was always going to be an uphill battle and against the strong local side, a mix between Killorglin and Iveragh Eagles. Killorglin got the perfect start into the wind, scoring after a break by their outhalf who linked with their 13 and he sprinted away to score under the posts to give the home side a 7 0 lead. The match ebbed and flowed with the boys on the wrong end of the penalty count, it was difficult to get any momentum despite the elements in their backs. We won a penalty in our own half and Darraghs slightly wobbly kick went into touch near the Killorglin line and after a few rumbles Dylan Crowe touched down for the try, the conversion slipped wide. Conor Gleeson made two excellent covering tackles after the 10 slipped away again, and coming up to half time 7-5 behind it looked all over for Nenagh. However, this team is resilient and some great play brought play to the Killorglin line and Conor Gleeson picked from the base of a ruck and scored right in the corner on the left hand touchline. Darragh kicked a brilliant conversion to leave us 12-7 ahead at half time. With a penalty count of 15-4 it was clear that we would have to up the defensive intensity in the second half – kicking was not going to be an option and defence was the only thing that would win the game for Nenagh. And boy did the players defend, some amazing tacking by Tommy Wilkinson, Stephen Armitage and Oisin Maloney among others kept our line intact. Killorglin kicked a penalty 5 minutes into the second half to leave the score 12-10, Killorglin kept applying the pressure but were struggling to get into our 22, with the difficult conditions making open rugby a lottery. Ethan, Fionn, Donnacha, Dylan and Dan hit rucks and made tackles and all the backs rowed in to assist. After 20 minutes the score remained the same and some good phase play saw quick ruck ball just inside our own half, Darragh ran onto a pass and went outside the centre and rounded the winger on halfway, he shaped to go inside the full back and swerved on the outside and raced away from the half was line for an excellent individual try. As expected the conversion didn’t reach the goal line. Killorglin were not finished an a sequence of attacks in our 22, with multiple penalties to the home team saw some brilliant defence by the Nenagh boys on their goal line. The siege was lifted went Tommy and Conor counter rucked and won the ball back and some great carries and use of the blind side saw us make our way to the 10 metre line. One final attack was halted and to the relief of the travelling Nenagh support, the final whistle blew with the score 17-10. Special mention to U15 player Donnacha O’Meara who filled in at the last minute, we had the bare 15 players again, he had a storming game and left it all on the field. Unfortunately with Dolphins victory in the other game, our two wins will not qualify us for the quarter final, any one of the three games we lost by an aggregate of 10 points would have sufficed but it was not to be. The will be a well deserved weekend off next weekend with 5 games since Christmas played. Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday in Tyone.

Squad- Luke Grey, Dylan Crowe, Luke O’Callaghan, Stephen Armitage, Donnacha O’Meara , Ethan Kennedy, Dan Keneally, Fionn O’Meara, Oisin Moloney, Darragh Gleeson, Tommy Wilkinson, Conor Gleeson , Sean Hough, Daniel O’Brien, Luke Walsh, , Injured list:, Ciaran Leahy, Conor McGrath, Cathan Gaffeny, Unavailable Oisin Flynn, Harry Sheppard