Nenagh Ormond U16s played Ennis in the North Munster League final on Sunday last in Newcastlewest. Nenagh played Ennis twice already this season and it was a win each so this game was always going to be tight and indeed it panned out the way. Nenagh won the toss and played with the wind in the first half. The first few minutes of the game were tense with both teams trying to get a foothold. Nenagh got the first breakthrough after some clever play inside the Ennis 22. After several phases the ball was moved to Cody O’Connor who put in a deft chip for Ben Madden who showed great composure to collect in the air and score. The conversion was wide of the posts leaving the score 5-0. Ennis came back and got the next two scores, the first one from their number 8 and then their scrum half sniped and dotted down under the posts. Both were converted to leave the score 14-5 to Ennis. Nenagh rallied and upped the tempo of the game and started carrying more aggressively and making good yards. Off the back of some good carries by Ben Madden, Robbie O’Brien, David Mulcahy, Aron Griffin, Shaun Murphy and Eoin Hogan Nenagh were rewarded with a penalty on the Ennis five metre line. Kaden Fogarty popped to Aidan Steed who bumped the first defender and powered his way over the line. That left the score 14-10 with a few minutes left in the first half. Nenagh kept the momentum going and found themselves again in the opposition 22 after Tommy Powell made good yards up the wing. They were rewarded with a penalty in midfield and went for a quick tap. Cody O’Connor had worked his way around to create an extra attacker, received the ball, drew the last defender and popped to Aron Griffin who did very well to keep in the field of play and score in the corner. Half time whistle was blown with Nenagh slightly ahead 15-14.
Nenagh knew the second half was going to be a real battle as they were playing into the wind. They got the perfect start when Luke Slattery made a break up the left wing and got them in behind the Ennis defence. Then carries from Aidan Ryan and Aidan Steed had them close to the line where the ball was moved out to the wing and Marcus Finn did brilliantly to collect the ball at his shoelaces and score. Soon after Nenagh were on the attack again. Cody O’Connor again swept around and went through a gap and as he approached the full back, he chipped the ball over and after the ball bobbled Tommy Powell kicked it on and then on came the man who always seems to be in the right place at the right time, Cian Murphy. He ran the perfect line and the ball bounced up into his hands without breaking stride and scored under the posts. The conversion was added to leave the score 27-14 with 18 minutes to go. The last 18 minutes were very nervy with Ennis looking to get a foothold back in the game. The defending from Nenagh was nothing short of heroic. The smaller Nenagh lads were chopping the bigger Ennis boys giving no quarter. Time after time Ennis ran hard at the defence and at crucial times in the game Eoin Hogan and Luke Slattery came up with several key turnovers at the breakdown. Those turnovers lifted and instilled confidence in the Nenagh team. However, Ennis got in for a try with 7 minutes to go and converted it to leave it a one score game. It was a good extremely tense last seven minutes and for some it felt like 20 minutes especially considering their recent last minute loss in the Munster Cup final. With three minutes to go Ennis threw everything at Nenagh and Nenagh answered all the questions. The most crucial part of the last three minutes was Nenagh holding the ball up over the line. Ennis’ big powerful second row was initially stopped by Aidan Steed and then as he tried to dot down Eoin Hogan got his hands in under the ball. Aidan Steed kicked the goal line drop off as far as he could and Nenagh played the last minute in the Ennis half. Full time was blown to the joy of Nenagh players and supporters. One must give credit to the Nenagh squad, after the disappointment of losing the Munster cup final to a last kick of the game two weeks earlier. They could have hung their heads but instead they bottled the hurt and put in a brilliant performance. Well done to all the squad and thanks to all who supported them on the day. Training continues Wednesday and Friday. Next up is a cup semifinal next weekend against Desmond away.
Pictured below are the U16 team and squad:
U16 captain Shaun Murphy receiving the U16 trophy:
