A step too far for Ormond but pride is there to go at it again

It can’t have been easy being a Nenagh Ormond player these past seven months.

By Thomas Conway

Granted, this is only sport and losing a few games is never the end of the world, but the frustration of suffering heavy defeat after heavy defeat must have been excruciating, particularly for a squad that had grown so accustomed to winning.

From very early on in the season, Nenagh were fighting a losing battle. It rapidly became apparent that they just weren’t at the races, that the standard and intensity in division 1A of the All-Ireland League were just too high.

That said, you could not fault Ormond’s application or endeavour. In every game they tried hard and attempted to do the right things. There were a few sporadic moments in which they flickered into life - they put on a late show in the Bateman Cup semi-final at home against Clontarf. Their recent defeat to Terenure - which confirmed their relegation - was arguably their best performance of the season.

Ormond’s Director of Rugby, John Long, is typically candid in his assessment of the campaign. He doesn’t downplay or understate the level of disappointment of a winless league campaign, but he does express pride in the players for their fortitude and commitment.

“It has been a tough year,” he admitted.

“It’s been hard to be positive every week and it’s been tough on the players mentally as well as physically.

“But they’re a solid group of lads. I suppose, halfway through the season we realised what level we were at, and it wasn’t going to be a good outcome. But the players have still turned up every week, they still gave it their all, and that’s a testament to their characters.”

So where did it all go wrong? There is no one single answer to that question. Ormond’s preparations in pre-season were as rigorous as ever and included a warm weather training camp in France. In hindsight, however, Long concedes that “the jump from 1B to 1A was a lot more than we anticipated - the jump from other divisions wasn’t as significant.”

Really and truly, Long emphasises, Division 1A of the AIL is “a pro league”. He remarks that “there was never a week when there weren't provincial players, academy or A-team players playing against us.” The effects of this were plain to see.

Anybody who witnessed an Ormond game this season will have been struck by the sheer calibre of their opposition each Saturday, and the absolute ferocious physicality of every game. The players are that bit sharper and more athletic at this level. Every opportunity is punished, as Long outlines.

“I’ve said it a good few times over the past couple of months, in the other divisions you could make five or six mistakes and get away with half of them. In Division 1A if you make five or six mistakes that’s five or six tries against you. That’s ultimately the difference. It’s a pro league, there’s no other way of looking at it,” Long said.

Nenagh Ormond obviously harbour ambitions of returning to the top-tier as soon as possible, but that begs a question: if the Tipp side wants to compete alongside 1A’s blue-chip clubs, many of which have formidable financial resources, does that mean Nenagh Ormond will have to change its club model? Long doesn’t think so.

“For us as a club, we can still say that well over half of our squad are home-grown players. No other club in 1A has that kind of model,” he says.

“I suppose Nenagh is just a different type of club. At the end of the day, I think Nenagh as a club wants to be a home-grown, community-style club, and not a pro club with no local players on the team.”

Long rightly emphasises that there is “a bigger picture” beyond just the first team. He references the success of the club’s under-21 squad, which produced some blistering rugby on route to the final of the Dónal Walsh Cup, in which they were defeated by Garryowen. He also pays tribute to the club’s seconds, which are looking forward to a Munster Junior Cup quarter-final next weekend. The entire juvenile section is also in “a really good position,” he adds.

As the AIL play-offs unfold over the next couple of weeks, Nenagh Ormond won’t be in the mix. Anything can happen in the knockout stages, including miracles, and victory is never guaranteed. Still, it is hard to see an outcome in which neither St. Mary’s nor Clontarf emerge as champions. Mary’s defeated Clontarf 14-10 at Castle Avenue last Saturday. This season’s AIL final is likely to be a reprise of that fixture, unless Terenure and Lansdowne upset the odds.

Nenagh Ormond will be replaced in the topflight by Old Wesley who topped 1B by a single point. Next season, Ormond will once again be mixing with the likes of Highfield, MU Barnhall, and Blackrock College. You get the sense, however, that irrespective of how this year went, the North Tipp club has unfinished business in 1A. They may well return, stronger and more experienced, gunning to right the wrongs of this season.