U18.5 North Munster Cup
Nenagh 38 Newport 21
Nenagh claimed a convincing home victory over Newport in the first round of the U18.5 North Munster Cup at Lisatunny on Sunday. Playing with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half, Nenagh quickly gained an attacking foothold when Charlie talbot hoisted a pinpoint kick from inside his own half and the ball rolled into touch inside the Newport 22. Billy Hodgins claimed the resulting lineout to put Nenagh on the front foot and following a strong rolling maul, the ball was moved wide and Charlie Talbot dived over in the left-hand corner. While Newport did manage to secure enough possession, Nenagh's strong defence meant they had to work hard to gain any territory. Nenagh remained patient and forced several turnovers. From a resultant penalty in their own half, Diarmuid Gleeson kicked to the Newport 5m line. Nenagh won the lineout, drove hard and Jack Cleary crashed over for Nenagh's second try. Charlie Talbot nailed his touchline conversion from the right wing to put Nenagh 12-0 up after 15 minutes. Nenagh hunted for more scores but knocked on when just about to score their third try. Ben Madden caught the resulting clearance kick near the 10m line and outpaced the Newport defence to dot down and put Nenagh 17-0 up. From the resulting restart Newport managed to regain possession and and put Nenagh under pressure through multi-phase play but Nenagh again managed to turnover the ball. They moved it wide, Charlie Talbot kicked long, Ben Madden lead the chase and forced Newport to spill the ball and Sean Stone was on hand to pick up and race in under the posts and Nenagh led 24-0 at half time.
There might have been an expectation that Newport with the aid of the strong wind in the second half were not out of the game, yet Nenagh enjoyed a fast start to the second half. Cian Clarke scored Nenagh's fifth try under the posts following a Nenagh scrum. From the resulting restart, Nenagh knocked on resulting in a Newport scrum on the 22m line. Strong Nenagh defence resulted in the ball being spilled, Ben Madden kicked through and followed up to regather the ball and raced away to score Nenagh's sixth try under the posts and finish the game as a contest. Newport's heads never dropped and they scored three late tries to leave the final score at 38-21. Nenagh next have the U18.5 Munster Development Cup final to look forward to against Old Christians on Saturday 21st March at 7pm in Virgin Media Park, Cork.
