North Munster U16 Cup semifinal
Nenagh Ormond 29 Desmond RFC 22
Nenagh played Desmond RFC in the North Munster cup semifinal on Wednesday April 22nd. After winning the North Munster league a week earlier Nenagh headed into this competition with great optimism but also cautious knowing the fact there were some tough challenges ahead. Nenagh kicked off the game and got their hands on the ball quite early after an early mistake by the opposition. Nenagh’s multi-phase attack was causing Desmond some problems. On one such attack the ball was moved out wide to Shaun Murphy, on our own 22, who passed to Harry O’Gorman who drew the last defender and released Jack Gleeson into space. Off took Jack like a bullet and was hauled own with a high tackle just inside the opposition 22. A penalty was awarded and from this penalty Nenagh went through multiple phases and eventually Aidan Steed, who had a powerful game, burst his way over the line to score. The conversion was added. Nenagh got on the score sheet again soon after. Whilst at times Nenagh attack was quite narrow, when they hit the fringes, they got great traction. Nenagh found themselves in the opposition 22 and after some brilliant carries by Aron Griffin, Robbie O’Brien and Aidan Ryan, they were on the 5 metre line. Kaden Fogarty passed to Luke Slattery who beat two defenders to score. That left the score 12-0. Back came Desmond and they were awarded a penalty which they converted and then just before half time they scored a converted try to leave the half time score 12-10 with all to play for.
The second half kicked off and Desmond were doing their best to play their number 15 into the game as he was a strong runner. However, Nenagh scored first through Aidan Steed. Ben Madden made good yards in midfield to give a good attacking platform and after multiple phases Aidan Steed found a gap and scored under the posts. Not bad for a fella who was sick the previous two days. Nenagh kept that momentum going and scored another try soon after. Cian Murphy, who was very busy on the wing in the second half collected a kick and started a counterattack. The ball was moved across the line by the backs and forwards to Shaun Murphy and then in contact he made a great pass to Jack Comerford who drew the defender and passed to Jack Gleeson who still had a lot to do. On receiving the ball Jack took off and beat the opposing winger with a brilliant step, then outpaced the last defender to score a fine individual effort. That left the score 24-10 and it looked like the game was over as a contest, but it was anything but. Desmond got the next two scores to bring it back to 24-22. In that ten-minute period there was some heroic defending with try saving tackles by Jack Gleeson and Cody O’Connor. After Desmond brought the score back to 24-22 Nenagh showed great character and resilience to see the game out in the opposition 22 and on the last play Robbie O’Brien scored in the corner to seal the game. Overall, Nenagh played well in patches, but kept the opposition in the game and it ended up being a right tussle.
