Ormond show how far they have come in beating Shannon

RUGBY: Energia All-Ireland League Division 1B Round 7

Shannon 15

Nenagh Ormond 42

Report: Shane Brophy at Thomond Park

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Conor McMahon (Nenagh Ormond)

SCORERS – Shannon: Tries - Clarke, Kiely; Conv - O’Connor; Pen - Nolan

Nenagh Ormond: Tries – Scully (2), McMahon, Hannon, O’Doherty. Convs – McMahon (4). Pens – McMahon (3).

For much of their history, Nenagh Ormond would have dreamed of nights like this!

Twenty years ago, when they were battling their way out of junior level, Shannon were winning their seventh of nine All-Ireland League titles. Even when Nenagh got into the senior ranks, rising to the level of the illustrious Limerick side would have seemed like a far off dream but last Saturday night in Thomond Park it came true, and not only that, they have now surpassed them.

When the fixtures were released for the AIL division 1B campaign following Nenagh’s promotion, the first game the management and players would have looked for was Shannon, and particularly the away one. The Limerick side play the majority of their AIL games on the back-field at Thomond Park, but with this match being their derby game in the league, and with a big travelling support making the short trip from North Tipp, it was moved into the stadium, not only an added bonus for the supporters, but also for the players on the firm surface.

Having played there last year in the Munster Senior Challenge Cup final, there was never any semblance of the occasion getting to the Nenagh players as they produced their most complete performance of the season so far.

Shannon might be some way off where they once were, sitting third from bottom in the second tier of the AIL, psychologically this was a big win for Nenagh Ormond to take the scalp of one of the Big 3 in Limerick in league action, and not only that they dominated them from first minute to last.

While Nenagh had only lost one of their first six games in the AIL so far this season, there were periods in games where they mixed the good with the sloppy. Here, they were controlled right through the game, firstly winning the forward battle, then pinning Shannon back with a strong kicking game with the hosts very weak under the high ball.

When the chances presented themselves, Nenagh built a score with Conor McMahon’s class from the kicking-tee once again in evidence in a man of the match performance from the centre who filled in for the influential Willie Coffey, but he wasn’t missed as he and Angus Blackmore were prominent right through.

McMahon nudged Nenagh into sixth minute lead after Shannon were caught offside, but the home side responded with Sean Nolan converting a penalty after Ormond infringed in the ruck.

The scrum battle was fascinating with both sides winning penalties early on but Nenagh were the more threatening with the ball in hand, and on seventeen minutes they crossed for their first try, with a bomb of a Garryowen from Ben Pope leading to a knock-on, and from the scrum, Nicky Irwin got the ball away under pressure down the short side where Angus Blackmore played in Patrick Scully who crossed in the left corner, with McMahon superbly converting, and he added a 33rd minute penalty for a 13-3 half time lead.

A third McMahon penalty soon after the restart extended Nenagh’s lead before they withstood the first real period of sustained pressure from Shannon inside the 22 but captain Kevin O’Flaherty robbed a lineout penalty to lift the siege.

Nicky Irwin took a quick-tap penalty inside his own 22 which took Nenagh all the way inside the Shannon ten-metre line. Despite three points on offer, Irwin went quickly again and with the Shannon defence caught short, Patrick Scully was put in again down the left wing for a try, which McMahon converted for a 23-3 lead.

Shannon finally breached the Nenagh line in the 57th minute when Munster hooker Eoghan Clarke touched down following a maul, but the conversion struck the post, 8-23.

Shannon had a lifeline but within two minutes, it was taken away as Conor O’Shaughnessy claimed Ben Pope’s restart from where the ball was worked into the middle of the field where Conor McMahon spotted a hole and weaved his way under the posts for a try he converted.

Three minutes later, the bonus-point was secured when replacement lock Craig Hannon barrelled over from close range for an unconverted score.

The Nenagh coaching staff emptied the bench at this stage with the game secured and for the final fifteen minutes or so, they game became very open, Ormond running the ball from almost anywhere, although it came against them in the 76th minute when loose defence allowed Stephen Kiely to break from inside his own ten-metre line and broke a succession of tackles to get the whole way to the line for a superb individual try, which was converted by Cillian O’Connor.

However, Nenagh Ormond would have the final say with replacement scrum-half Charlie O’Doherty crossing after another effective break down the short-side involving Patrick Scully and player/head coach Derek Corcoran.

Conor McMahon put the exclamation mark on the win and a 22 point personal performance with another sublime kick as Nenagh Ormond added another glorious chapter to their history.

TEAMS – Shannon: Cillian Corkery (6); Stephen Kiely (7), Cian O’Halloran (6), Harry Long (6), Darren Gavin (6); Sean Nolan (6), Evin Crowe (6); Conor Glynn (6), Eoghan Clarke (7), Emmet Calvey (6); Jack Brady (6), Cian McCann (6); Kelvin Brown (6), Oisin Minogue (7), Lee Nicholas (6).

Reps: Ian Leonard (6) for Crowe (52); Cillian O’Connor (7) for Corkery (53); Christian Storey (6) for Brown (55); Alex Long (6) for Clarke (70); Ciaran Vaughan (6) for Brady (70); Shane Carew (NR) for Glynn (77).

Nenagh Ormond: Josh Rowland (7); Patrick Scully (8), Conor McMahon (9), Angus Blackmore (8), Conor O’Shaughnessy (7); Ben Pope (7), Nicky Irwin (7); Mikey Doran (7), Dylan Murphy (7), Colm Skehan (7), Jake O’Kelly (7), Kevin O’Flaherty (8); Rob Buckley (7), Evan Murphy (8), John O’Flaherty (7).

Reps: Jack O’Keeffe for Doran (blood 39-HT); Craig Hannon (7) for O’Kelly (49); Charlie O’Doherty (7) for Irwin (49); Jack O’Keeffe (6) for Doran (58); John Brislane (6) for Buckley (58); Derek Corcoran (7) for Pope (63); Mikey Doran for Skehan (63); Jack Devanny (6) for D Murphy (63); Rob Buckley for J O’Flaherty (72).

Referee: George Clancy