A Plan comes together
In All Fairness
Nenagh Ormond’s rise to the top tier of Irish club rugby has been nothing if not meteoric.
When they defeated Rainey Old Boys in 2005 to make the leap from junior to senior rugby, even the most optimistic club members and supporters would have felt getting the whole way to the top division was beyond them. Staying senior would have been seen as an achievement in itself. Fast forward twenty years and next September, Nenagh Ormond will be taking to the pitch in the top tier of club rugby, pitting themselves, both home and away, against 1A champions Clontarf, as well as Cork Constitution, St Mary’s, Lansdowne, Ballynahinch, Young Munster, Terenure College, and Old Belvedere in the top tier of the All-Ireland League. The recent successes of Nenagh Ormond have been three years in the making, sadly having its acorn in a tragedy. May 8th next is the third anniversary of the passing of club stalwart Keith Hayes, who passed away so suddenly, it left a void in the club that has inspired its resurgence over the past three years.
Since then, the initials ‘KH’ have been woven onto the shirt sleeves of the jerseys, and its hard not to think that Keith pulled a few strings from another world for Nenagh Ormond to rise like a Phoenix to score two tries in less than four minutes to beat UCC in Saturday’s dramatic promotion playoff final on Saturday.
Hayes’ passing came just over a week after the end of a campaign in 2022 where Nenagh only avoided relegation to the fourth tier by edging a two-legged playoff with Rainey Old Boys. The scare of that season and Hayes’ passing was the galvanising force behind the club making big changes to their coaching team with the aim of consolidating their position in Division 2A of the All Ireland League. Well, they have achieved that and then some!
The continuity came in the form of Director of Rugby John Long and team manager Eoin O’Callaghan. From there, they put a strong coaching team in place, key among them was getting long serving player and Nenagh man Derek Corcoran back from Young Munster as head coach.
Corcoran’s status in the game, particularly within Limerick, saw him able to recruit the best in terms of position coaches in Dan Fogarty (backs), James Hickey (forwards) and Colm Skehan (strength & conditioning).
Dan Fogarty is a familiar face to all in Nenagh Ormond having played for many seasons at senior level after coming through their underage system, before making a successful move to coaching where he had considerable success as Under 20 coach with Shannon.
James Hickey brought a wealth of experience built up over many seasons of coaching with Shannon, Young Munster, UL Bohemian, as well as Glenstal Abbey at schools level.
Thurles native Colm Skehan brought considerable playing experience at senior level with Young Munster as a top quality scrummager but it was his day job as highly skilled Strength & Conditioning coach was what Nenagh wanted and his work came to fruition in the closing stages of Saturday’s game when Ormond outstayed UCC in terms of fitness who were out on their feet with ten minutes to go.
When you sit down to make plans, in any aspect of life, there is no guarantee of them coming to fruition but they have in Nenagh Ormond, and who is to say they haven’t finished yet!