Ormond claim bonus-point in 12 try encounter against St Mary's

RUGBY: Energia All-Ireland League Division 1A Round 12

Nenagh Ormond 27

St. Mary’s College 49

Report: Thomas Conway at New Ormond Park

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Myles Carey (St. Mary’s College)

SCORERS – Nenagh Ormond: Tries - Murphy, Gleeson (2), W Coffey, Higgins. Con - Finn (1).

St Mary’s College: Tries - Dean, Carey (3), Watters, Goggin, McCormack. Cons - O’Gara (7)

Nenagh Ormond earned just their second point in division 1A of the All-Ireland League on Saturday but still fell to a convincing defeat to second placed St Mary’s College.

Generally, when the home team is on the end of a 22-point deficit there is only one reasonable conclusion to draw, and yet this was not really the case here. Ormond might have conceded seven tries to title-chasing south Dublin side, but they scored five themselves, collecting a deserved bonus-point and acquitted themselves quite well, caveats applied.

In the final analysis this was a wild and frenetic game, a match riddled with defensive mistakes but made entertaining thanks to some brilliant attacking rugby. St. Mary’s surged into a virtually unassailable first-half lead via an avalanche of well-constructed tries.

Nenagh, who improved immeasurably as the game wore on, came back at them and gave the home crowd something to cheer about.

They finished the match strongly, winger Fionn Higgins flinging himself over the line in the corner to reinforce the message that the home side will continue fighting, even when the chips are down.

St. Mary’s thumped Nenagh 49-15 in the reverse fixture at the beginning of November, and the early indications seemed to suggest that something similar would unfold here. Mark McHugh’s outfit roared into action from the get-go, captain Conor Dean sweeping over at the town end after 47 seconds, kicker Mick O’Gara nailing the first of seven successful conversions.

The general consensus was that the visitors are genuine title-contenders. Agile and athletic, they play a blistering running game, well suited to the astroturf of Nenagh’s new 4G pitch.

At one juncture in the sixth minute, centre Ruairi Shields took off on a crazy cross-field run which carried him all the way from the sideline right into the middle of the pitch. It typified Mary’s style of play - audacious, unafraid.

Eleven minutes later, a beautifully creative chip in behind from the boot of the aforementioned Dean unleashed the effervescent Myles Carey, who stormed in for the first of his three tries in a player-of-the-match performance.

In truth, Nenagh were only really just clinging on, but that changed in the 27th minute, when a superb combination move between Willie Coffey and Conor McMahon created the break that led to their first try. Dylan Murphy thundered over near the corner, and although James Finn’s conversion drifted wayward, at least the home side were up and running.

The joy didn’t last long. Myles Carey was in for his second on the half-hour mark, intercepting a loose pass and marauding over the tryline. Flanker Ronan Watters touched down two minutes later, fed by a nice pass from Dean. The latter then executed a clever grubber to tee up Carey for his hat-trick on 35 minutes. Game over?

Nenagh, sensing the prospect of humiliation on home soil, suddenly found some fight. A gorgeous move involving Willie Coffey, Matt Brice and finally Davy Gleeson sent the latter through to score the first of his two tries in the corner. Then, seven minutes into added time, Coffey bustled through following a prolonged Nenagh attack. James Finn converted, leaving the home side trailing 17-35 at the break.

From a Nenagh perspective, defeat appeared inevitable at half-time but that changed several minutes into the second half when Davy Gleeson surged over for his second try on 46 minutes, it reduced the deficit to thirteen and there was, briefly, a sense that the chase was on.

The Nenagh resistance, however, did not last. As soon as St. Mary’s number 8 Dan Goggin - a former Munster centre who last year won Division 1A player of the season - bundled over, that seemed to be that.

Prop Mick McCormack made the victory certain in the 59th minute, with O’Gara’s conversion pushing the Templeogue club into a 49-22 lead.

Credit to Nenagh, they displayed spirit and determination in the latter stages and were ultimately rewarded with a fifth try at the death.

TEAMS - Nenagh Ormond: David Gleeson (8); Matt Brice (6), Willie Coffey (7), Patrick Scully (6), Fionn Higgins (7); James Finn (7), Luke Kerr (7); Mikey Doran (6), Dylan Murphy (7), Matthew Burke (7), Kevin Seymour (6), Kevin O’Flaherty (Capt 6), Rob Buckley (6), Joe Coffey (7), John O’Flaherty (6).

Reps: Conor McMahon (6) for Scully (9 inj), Charlie O’Doherty (7) for Brice (HT), Darragh McSweeney (6) for Burke (50); Fionn O’Meara (6) for Buckey (52), John Brislane (6) for K O’Flaherty (52), Mateo Sentous for Murphy (56); Kevin O’Flaherty for Seymour (71).

St. Mary’s College: Steven Kilgallen (7), Aaron O’Sullivan (7), Myles Carey (9), Mick O’Gara (8), Ruairi Shields (8), Conor Dean (Capt, 8), Colm Reilly (7); Oisín Michel (7), Richie Bergin (6), Mick McCormack (7), Greg Jones (7), Conor Pierce (7), Josh Gimblett (8), Ronan Watters (7), Dan Goggin (8).

Reps: Stephen Kennedy (7) for O’Sullivan (20 inj), Adam McEvoy (6) for Reilly (55), Thomas O’Reilly (6) for Bergin (62), Daniel Leane (6) for Jones (68), Ciarán Scott (6) for Pierce (68), Jack Nelson Murray (6) for Michel (73).

Referee: Luke Rogan.