Experienced O’Flaherty treasures special achievement

Kevin O’Flaherty has soldiered with this Nenagh team for many a season, but he’s never witnessed anything as special as last Saturday’s events in Lisatunny.

By Thomas Conway

It was an emotional day, for players and supporters alike. O’Flaherty believes that this success was the culmination of a much longer journey, stretching back a decade or more, since Nenagh first gained qualification to the Division 2A ranks.

“It’s massive, this league title,” he began.

“But I think it has been coming for a long time, for ten years really - since we first got promoted into 2A.

“We’ve had a couple of instances where we’ve got into play-offs and just got unlucky, came out on the wrong side. It happened last year for example. But this group, of players and coaches, for the past 24 months have just been exceptional. Anything that has been asked of them, they’ve just taken to it.

“We had a loss last week and we were disappointed with it, but we have a mentality now whereby we learn from our mistakes and we never make them again. And like, you could see that out there today. We went to the wire with them, but we worked hard up front, our forwards gave us a platform and the backs played off that.”

Nenagh Ormond were the better side on Saturday. MU Barnhall themselves are a strong force, but the Maynooth outfit were ultimately undone by Nenagh’s sharp attacking and on-the-ball quality.

Second row O’Flaherty was satisfied with the performance, and paid tribute to his teammates. With a few notable exceptions, this Ormond team is effectively home-grown, with most players drawn from Nenagh itself or the surrounding region. That, the lock forward believes, is an achievement in itself.

As for the future, the Burgess native sees no limits in terms of what Nenagh can go on and achieve. The club is buzzing. The atmosphere is buoyant. Every person within the set-up is committed to a long-term vision to make Nenagh one of the most powerful forces in Irish club rugby, and it’s already paying dividends.

But, as Kevin highlights, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Nenagh has developed an extensive underage set-up, which is now funnelling players into the senior ranks each year. In effect, the club has constructed a blueprint for success and is now reaping the benefits of that strategy. In O’Flaherty’s view, the sky is the limit. As long as the talent keeps flowing from the youth ranks, and the senior team is replenished with new blood, Nenagh should be able to stand up and compete in the Division 1 of the AIL.

He said: “If you look at our squad as a whole, the majority of them are Nenagh men. Now obviously you also have to find players and bring them in from outside, to enhance the squad. But there are forty lads training there every Tuesday and Thursday and the bulk of them are local lads.

“But this success, this win, is brilliant for the whole club. Because things are looking up. We have a new astro in development, our underage squads are going well, there’s a buzz in the club generally. The future is massive.

“You look at our squad and there are lads there that are 21, 22 years of age. We have one or two elder statesmen but on average our age profile is probably around 25, 26, and that shows the potential that’s there. And if you can pick two or three players from the under-18s, under-20s teams, and integrate them into the seniors each year, then that’s a recipe for success.”