Coffey inspires Ormond to prefect season start

Nenagh Ormond defeat Highfield in the first round of the Bank of Ireland Munster Senior Challenge Cup

RUGBY: Bank of Ireland Munster Senior Challenge Cup Group 1 Round 1

Highfield 22

Nenagh Ormond 29

Report: Enda Murphy at Woodleigh Park, Cork

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Willie Coffey (Nenagh Ormond)

SCORERS: Highfield - Tries: Murphy, Glynn, Lloyd Convs: O’Riordan (2) Pen: O’Riordan

Nenagh Ormond – Tries: W Coffey, Irwin, O’Shaughnessy (2) Convs: McMahon (3); Pen: McMahon (1).

Bright sunshine and a pristine Woodleigh Park pitch provided the backdrop for this season-opener between Highfield and Nenagh Ormond in round one of the Munster Senior Challenge Cup on Saturday.

Similar to last year, the opening rounds is in a group format with Cork Constitution and Shannon being the other members of what looks like a very tough group from which only one team will emerge to the semi-finals.

These teams have met in this competition in each of the last three years and it was Nenagh who once again prevailed over their Cork rivals making it a hat-trick of wins which began with a semi-final victory in 2022.

This was a first outing of the season for both teams and at times it showed but in truth Nenagh looked the more dangerous outfit, taking control early in the game and leading throughout.

It took only eleven minutes for Nenagh to notch up their first try as they attacked off the back of a lineout inside the Highfield 22 to put centre Willie Coffey clear and in under the posts, converted by Colm McMahon.

The home side did respond and had plenty of possession throughout the first half but lacked a cutting edge out wide, with the Nenagh defence looking comfortable. An extended period of scrappy play inside the Nenagh half was finally broken as Highfield got on the scoreboard with a penalty from out-half Shane O’Riordan.

Nenagh always looked dangerous in attack – particularly through the excellent Willie Coffey and they got on top again with some impressive interplay working their way close to the Highfield line on 25 minutes.

A series of drives close-in culminated in a penalty in front of the posts which captain Kevin O’Flaherty decided was too good to turn down and Conor McMahon increased the lead to 10-3.

Nenagh then made their first changes, with props Jack O’Keefe and Sean Frawley being replaced by Matt Burke and Mikey Doran.

The game began to open up a little and after a rare Highfield break-out, Nenagh regained possession and scored the best try of the game just before half time.

Out half Derek Corcoran threw a magnificent bridge pass to right winger Conor O’Shaughnessy who made ground before passing inside to the supporting Conor McMahon. The centre was hauled down a few metres from the line but managed to get the return pass away to O’Shaughnessy who dotted down in the corner. This left the half-time score at 15-3 to the visitors, which seemed a fair reflection of their dominance to that point.

Nenagh re-asserted that superiority early in the second half as Willie Coffey once again burst through the middle and found scrum-half Nicky Irwin running the support line to score easily under the posts, converted by McMahon.

At this point, the visitors looked comfortable, with the lead now out to nineteen points. Derek Corcoran left the field and Charlie O’Doherty moved from full-back into the out-half position. Over the next few minutes, Nenagh made more substitutions as Rob Buckley, Shane Malone and Evan Murphy all entered the fray.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these wholesale changes disrupted Nenagh’s flow for a time and allowed Highfield back into the game. They began to gain dominance at scrum time and after a series of penalties, they worked their way into the Nenagh 22 and scored from a driving maul, finished by Rob Murphy, and converted by O’Riordan to bring the score back to 22-10 with some twenty minutes remaining.

Nenagh again responded quickly, and it was Willie Coffey once more who created the space in the midfield for O’Doherty to fire out a long pass out to Conor O’Shaughnessy who had a clear run to the corner for his second try. Conor McMahon nailed the conversion from the touchline and Nenagh were once again nineteen points clear and with a four-try bonus point in the bag.

With only ten minutes remaining, it certainly looked like job done for Nenagh, but the remainder of the game was totally dominated by Highfield.

With the scrum penalties mounting, referee Kevin Coffey finally went to his pocket, and it was loose-head prop Mikey Doran who saw yellow. This meant that Brian O’Rourke, who had just replaced Willie Coffey, had to leave the field in order to bring back Sean Frawley into the front row.

Things got worse a minute later when Nicky Irwin was also yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on – which seemed like a very harsh call. Now down to thirteen men, Nenagh capitulated very easily to a driving maul try from the resultant line-out, scored by Sean Glynn, and conceded once again just before the final whistle as they ran out of numbers defending the line close-in with Angus Lloyd touching down.

So, a somewhat disappointing end to a game which Nenagh dominated for large parts. There are definitely some work-ons for next week’s visit of the AIL champions from last season, Cork Constitution. The set-piece will undoubtedly be a focus for the coming week but all in all there are plenty of positives to reflect on as they look forward to what promises to be a very exciting season, mixing it against some of the top sides in the country.

TEAMS – Highfield: Ronan O’Keeffe; Barry Spearman, Elliot Smith, Mark Dorgan, Colin O’Neill; Shane O’Riordan, Richard Cassidy; James Rochford, Travis Coomey, Daragh Fitzgerald; Eoin Keating, David O’Halloran; Aidan Keane, Mark Fitzgibbon, Pat McBarron.

Reps: Rob Murphy, Corey Hanlon, Sean Glynn, Con Butler, Angus Lloyd, Noah Patterson, Eoin Dorgan.

Nenagh Ormond: Charlie O’Doherty; Conor O’Shaughnessy, Conor McMahon, Willie Coffey, Patrick Scully; Derek Corcoran, Nicky Irwin; Sean Frawley, Dylan Murphy, Jack O’Keefe; Jake O’Kelly, Kevin O’Flaherty; Joe Coffey, John O’Flaherty, John Brislane.

Reps: Shane Malone, Matt Burke, Mikey Doran, Evan Murphy, Rob Buckley, Evan Fitzpatrick, Brian O’Rourke.

Referee: Kevin Coffey (Munster Branch).