Naas hand Ormond just their second league loss

RUGBY: Energia All Ireland League Division 1B Round 11

Naas 27

Nenagh Ormond 21

Report: Mike McMahon in Forenaughts

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Paddy Taylor (Naas)

SCORERS – Naas: Tries: O’Kane, Taylor, Haznar, Murphy. Cons: Croke (2). Pen: Osborne

Nenagh Ormond: Tries: D Murphy, O’Doherty; Con: O’Doherty (1). Pens: O’Doherty (3)

Nenagh Ormond’s seven match winning run in all competitions came to a shuddering end last Saturday at the hands of a spirited Naas outfit in round 11 of the All-Ireland League Division 1B.

When the sides met in the reverse fixture back on 7th December, they were only separated by a single point, but Nenagh went into this match as favourites.

Lying second in the table to Old Belvedere, Nenagh had accumulated 42 from their first ten matches, compared to Naas’s tally of seventeen with the Kildare side lying in eighth place and looking not to get sucked into a relegation dogfight.

Nenagh began in uncharacteristically subdued fashion, lacking their usual energetic bite. The hosts were clearly up for the fight, and it took them only five minutes to break the deadlock. A well-executed lineout close to the Nenagh line set up a driving maul from which hooker Aidan O’Kane touched down for the opening try. Experienced out-half Bryan Croke converted to give his side a 7-0 lead.

A comedy of errors from both sides following the re-start ended with a simple penalty for Nenagh full-back Charlie O’Doherty to get his side off the mark.

Having settled, the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the match as they largely dominated the rest of the opening quarter. Inaccuracy and a lack of patience cost them dearly, however, as they squandered two golden try opportunities. First of all, Nenagh were held up as they drove over the line and they then botched another glorious chance when a well-worked 5-metre penalty was knocked on with a try looking certain.

The game became littered with errors from both sides and turned into a scrappy affair until the 21st minute when impressive Naas centre Paddy Taylor intercepted a loose pass in midfield to race clear and score under the posts. A 14-3 lead for the home team at half time but there was a feeling that Nenagh had yet to really land a blow of any significance.

The anticipated resurgence from the visitors materialised to a degree as they attacked with more urgency and accuracy in the early minutes of the second half. They got back to within eight points with a well-struck penalty from Charlie O’Doherty but Naas responded immediately and good handling from their backline sent winger Michael Haznar over in the corner to reassert their advantage and stretch the lead to 19-6.

Nenagh got their first try when hooker Dylan Murphy dotted down from a lineout maul to cut the deficit back to eight points with twenty minutes remaining and the stage set for another trademark comeback.

Frustratingly, however, Ormond once again took their foot off the pedal and poor defence allowed Naas replacement back-row Darragh Murphy to evade a number of tackles before touching down in the left corner for his side’s fourth try.

Softly conceded tries became the order of the day from the restart as Charlie O’Doherty caught the home defence off guard with a quickly tapped penalty to score way too easily.

A penalty for holding on allowed veteran replacement Peter Osborne to slot over a penalty for the home side, bringing the score to 27-18 but there was still an air of expectation that Nenagh might still produce a final flourish to eke out another late win. A long pass to Nicky Irwin out on the right wing looked like a certain try but he was tackled and ended up being penalised for holding on.

When Nenagh secured a kickable penalty with five minutes to go, they had no option but to reduce the deficit to within bonus point range. O’Doherty duly obliged to bring the deficit back to six.

It was last chance saloon time for Nenagh Ormond as they set up a lineout maul ten-metres out. Half of the home pack seemed to be offside as they thwarted that particular advance and when Angus Blackmore failed to connect with centre partner Conor McMahon, the game was up.

In the words of Van Morrison “there will be days like this” and in fairness this is probably the first time all season that Nenagh have produced such a lack-lustre display. With seven games left and seven points behind leaders Old Belvedere, there is no scope for such lapses going forward.

Invariably at this time of the season, injuries come into the reckoning and this game saw that list grow with Patrick Scully, Conor O’Shaughnessy and Evan Murphy all sustaining heavy knocks and having to leave the field.

On the positive side, Nenagh have very good squad depth this year and are better placed to deal with injuries with excellent cover options throughout the side.

Back home next week, Nenagh will take on bottom side Shannon, who pushed leaders Old Belvedere all the way before losing narrowly 24-22 in a much-improved display. A wonderful opportunity for Nenagh to get their promotion challenge back on track you would think but they will know that they need a serious step up from this ultimately disappointing performance at Forenaughts.

TEAMS – Naas: Jack Sheridan; Donal Conroy, Charlie Sheridan, Paddy Taylor, Michal Haznar; Bryan Croke, Cormac King; Conor Doyle, Aidan O’Kane, Adam Deay, James O’Loughlin, Koloa Aisake, Muiris Cleary, Will O’Brien (Capt), Ryan Casey.

Reps: Francisco Bartorelli, Stephen Lackey, Darragh Murphy, Cillian Dempsey, Peter Osborne, Derry Lenehan.

Nenagh Ormond: Charlie O’Doherty; Conor O’Shaughnessy, Angus Blackmore, Patrick Scully, Davey Gleeson; Ben Pope, Nicky Irwin; Sean Frawley, Dylan Murphy, Jack O’Keeffe, Craig Hannon, Kevin O’Flaherty (Capt), Jake O’Kelly, Evan Murphy, John O’Flaherty.

Reps: Shane Maloney, Matthew Burke, Fionn O’Meara, Joe Coffey, Josh Rowland, Conor McMahon.

Referee: Jonathan Erskine