IN ALL FAIRNESS - Ormond provide a glimpse of a positive future

On a weekend when Irish rugby likely reached its greatest ever height by winning a fourth Grand Slam, the first in Dublin, to cement the teams place as the best team in the world, local rugby supporters will always be able to link it to Nenagh Ormond’s performance in their first ever appearance in the Munster Senior Challenge Cup.

If you knew nothing about the history of the prestigious competition which has been played for the last 139 years, you only had to look at the shiny trophy which was placed in front of the entrance tunnel from the dressing rooms at Thomond Park which must be four foot high with the levelled base containing each of the 138 previous winners.

Young Munsters’ name will go onto it for a tenth time, and a third in a row, but as long as the 2023 final is remembered, the contribution of Nenagh Ormond won’t be forgotten.

First of all, it was a magnificent occasion at Thomond Park. Sometimes when you have a crowd of 2,200 people in a vast venue that can hold 26,000 at its brim, it can take away from the atmosphere but this was anything but. Maybe it is down to the design of the arched stand which traps the noise in, and makes it sound like Thomond Park on a big match Munster day.

It helped that there was an underdog in Nenagh Ormond, appearing in their first ever final. Despite Young Munster being ranked fourth in the country based on AIL standings in division 1A to Nenagh Ormond’s 22nd in division 2A, there was no sense of fear from the Tipperary side in advance and why would they considering they had knocked out higher ranked sides in Garryowen and Highfield on route.

It also helped that they had a number of their coaching staff familiar with Young Munster, including player/head coach Derek Corcoran, whose rugby brain helped Nenagh break apart the cookies (as Young Munster are known) in the first half.

Club rugby doesn’t get the coverage it used to get in its hay-day thirty years ago, particularly when Nenagh’s Noel O’Meara helped the Limerick side win their first and only All-Ireland League title in 1993 when they defeated St Mary’s of Dublin in front of 17,000 people at Lansdowne Road but this game will go a long way to rectifying that. This was a game of outstanding quality from two sides fully focused on getting their hands on some silverware. More of this and they’ll get those rugby fans back through the gates for league games on a regular basis, particularly for Nenagh Ormond who play a superb brand of rugby.

The Munster Senior Challenge Cup has been the preserve of Munster’s four big clubs in Cork Con, Garryowen, Shannon and Young Munster, but Nenagh Ormond have shown that the gap between the best and the rest is closing and each year they can realistically have a go at winning it.

When the disappointment of the last gasp defeat has ebbed away and the Nenagh Ormond players get back to training last night (Tuesday) they can take so much confidence from the level of performance shown against Young Munster going into the last three games of the AIL season as they chase promotion to division 1B. If they didn’t know whether they could compete at a higher level, they know they can now.