Ormond turn to youth as they get back to winning ways

RUGBY: Energia All-Ireland League Division 1B Round 5

Nenagh Ormond 18

MU Barnhall 16

Report: Shane Brophy at New Ormond Park

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Aaron Maloney (Nenagh Ormond)

SCORERS –Nenagh Ormond: Tries – Coles, Ayling. Conv – Gleeson (1). Pens – Gleeson (1), McMahon (1).

MU Barnhall: Try – Norval. Conv – Hannon. Pens – Hannon (3).

Conor McMahon slotted over a nerveless penalty with the final kick of the match to get Nenagh Ormond back to winning ways in getting the better Maynooth University (MU) Barnhall in the All-Ireland League on Saturday.

After two successive defeats, Ormond were staring at an unwanted hat-trick when Jack Hannon slotted over a 75th minute penalty to put the Kildare side in front after dominating the second half in eliminating a twelve point half-time deficit.

Nenagh had few forays into the Barnhall half in the second period and with time almost in the red, they had a scrum on their own 22, a long way from where they needed to be.

A depleted pack, down to seven men with Kevin Seymour in the sin-bin, managed to hold the scrum long enough to get the ball away from where full-back Matt Brice managed to get on the outside and offload inside to replacement scrum-half Liam Walsh who carried the ball on with Nenagh getting into the Barnhall half, with Conor McMahon then making a strong carry to the 22 where the visitors were penalised on the floor with the replacement wing dusting himself down to slot over to the left of the posts for what could be a hugely significant win.

In a very open division 1B so far, any kind of a win is treasured but for an injury ravaged Nenagh side, this was satisfying ahead of a home game against bottom side UCC next Saturday to round off their second batch of games in which they will get a welcome breather to allow the walking wounded to heal.

Their underage development has been really tested and with five starters and two replacements all under the age of 21, that sheer desire to dig it out for the club, even in the most difficult of circumstances, was there for all to see.

With out-half Jonty Stewart ruled out through injury, Darragh Gleeson was handed his first start at out-half, where after a nervy start in which he kicked a penalty beyond the dead-ball line, went onto have solid debut, aided by the excellence of scrum-half Aaron Moloney who took much of the pressure off him in a man of the match performance.

Prop Sean Nolan also made his debut and who was hugely impressive off the bench as Nenagh’s front row options were depleted with Emmet Calvey and Roman Salanoa and Mikey Doran also ruled out.

Nenagh’s injury list was added to within eighteen minutes when wing Fionn Higgins limped off but they were fortunate to have the experienced Conor McMahon to come on just after Jack Hannon had kicked Barnhall into an 18th minute lead.

Nenagh were level within two minutes when Barnhall were penalised for offside and Darragh Gleeson slotted over his first AIL points.

From there, Nenagh dominated the rest of the half, aided by Barnhall number-eight Dan Murphy sent to the sin-bin for persistent infringing by the team.

Nenagh took advantage of almost immediately with a lineout close to the line from where Oli Ayling dotted down in the corner with Gleeson’s conversion wide of the target.

Nenagh were dominating in the forwards and a big scrum penalty win on the Barnhall feed led to their second try, again off a lineout win from John O’Flaherty with hooker Taylor Coles crashing over for Gleeson to convert in the 33rd minute for a 15-3 half-time lead.

Barnhall enjoyed a good period of play before the break which came to nothing but they took that momentum into the second half with Hannon converting in second penalty on 46 minutes.

Their growing pressure led to Willie Coffey being sent to the sin-bin for the home side on 48 minutes and seven minutes later, the visitors scored their only try through full-back Daniel Norval after fine play by scrum-half Luke Fogarty, and with Hannon converting the deficit was down to two points.

Nenagh managed to regain some control but attacking platforms were few and far between with the home side forced to do a lot of defending and five minutes from time, the dam looked to have broken with second row Kevin Seymour sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on from where Hannon slotted over from in front of the posts.

Time and momentum was against Nenagh Ormond but they summoned one last attack with yielded the penalty for McMahon to convert for what could be a vital extra three match points come the end of the season.

TEAMS – Nenagh Ormond: Matt Brice (7); Luke Graham (6), Willie Coffey (6), Patrick Scully (6), Fionn Higgins (6); Darragh Gleeson (6), Aaron Maloney (8); Jack O’Keeffe (7), Taylor Coles (7), Matt Burke (8); Kevin Seymour (7), Kevin O’Flaherty (7); Oli Ayling (7), Robbie Tynan (7), John O’Flaherty (Capt 7).

Reps: Conor McMahon (7) for Higgins (18 inj); Sean Nolan (7) for O’Keeffe (33); Ignacio Falla (6) for Coles (43 inj); Jack O’Keeffe for Burke (52); John Brislane (6) for Tynan (59); Liam Walsh (6) for Gleeson (71); Rob Buckley (6) for K O’Flaherty (71); Matt Burke for O’Keeffe (71); Robbie Tynan for Buckley (80+3).

MU Barnhall: Daniel Norval (7); Dylan Bruton (6), Shane Mallon (6), Nick Doggett (6), Alex Crowley (6); Jack Hannon (7), Luke Fogarty (8); Sean Hopkins (6), Finn Brien (6), Darragh Bellanova (6); Finn Leach (6), Ciaran Enright (6); Stephen Callinan (7), Shane Devitt (6), Dan Murphy (8).

Reps: Cathal Duff (6) for Brien (44); Geoff Brooks (7) for Hopkins (44); Conor Turley (7) for Bellanova (44); Harry Peavoy (6) for Leach (44); Finn Leach for Murphy (64-75 blood).

Referee: Tomas O’Sullivan