Bank of Ireland Munster Senior Cup – Quarter Final

(H-T Nenagh Ormond 3 Cork Constitution 35)

New Ormond Park

Referee Tomas O’Sullivan

Report by Mike McMahon

A statement performance by Cork Constitution saw them knock holders Nenagh Ormond out of the Munster Senior Cup in this quarter final tie at a wet and windy New Ormond Park.

This was effectively a repeat of last year’s game at the same stage in which Nenagh raised more than a few eyebrows with a shock 31-12 victory over the then reigning AIL champions.

There was to be no repeat of that shock result this time around however as Cork Con looked to put their opponents to the sword early with the assistance of a westerly gale. It took only 3 minutes for them to open their account through hooker Danny Sheahan and they went further ahead 5 minutes later when centre Rob Hedderman latched on to a spilled ball in midfield and sprinted clear under the posts.

Although Ormond had plenty of possession and were doing their best to make a contest of it, they were constantly driven back by a very physical Constitution defence, who were pressuring their hosts into uncharacteristic mistakes. At the end of the first quarter, it was 21-3 to the visitors following a Julien Royer try and they were looking comfortable.

A sustained period of attack from the home side on the half hour gave them hope of narrowing the gap but they could not breach the Con line and when the siege was lifted, sloppy play from Nenagh once again resulted in two further first half scores by Matthew Bowen and Adam Maher for the Cork side who led 35-3 at half time.

Nenagh changed things up in the second period and with the elements in their favour, looked more threatening. Although dominating possession, they were held at bay by a determined Cork Con defence – even when they were reduced to 13 men early in the half.

Although ultimately getting two consolation scores by Luke Kerr to bring some respectability back to the scoreline, Nenagh were very much second best this time around and will need to re-group before they get their AIL campaign underway in two weeks’ time at home to Old Belvedere.

Scorers: Nenagh Ormond: Tries: Luke Kerr x 2; Pen: Conor McMahon
Cork Constitution: Tries: Danny Sheahan, Rob Hedderman, Julian Royer, Matthew Bowen, Adam Maher; Cons: Darragh French x 5

NENAGH ORMOND: 15. Matt Brice, 14. Conor O’Shaughnessy, 13. Angus Blackmore, 12. Patrick Scully, 11. Conor McMahon, 10. Aaron Kelly, 9. Luke Kerr, 1. Mikey Doran, 2. Dylan Murphy, 3. Darragh McSweeney, 4. Kevin O’Flaherty (c), 5. Kevin Seymour, 6. Joe Coffey, 7. John Healy, 8. John O’Flaherty.

Replacements: 16. Robbie Tynan, 17. Niall O’Gorman, 18. Matt Burke, 19. Fionn O’Meara, 20. Evan Murphy, 21. Nicky Irwin, 22. Derek Corcoran.

Cork Constitution: 15. George Coomber, 14. Joe O’Leary, 13. Sean French, 12. Rob Hedderman, 11. Matthew Bowen, 10. Darragh French, 9. Adam Maher, 1. Julien Royer, 2. Danny Sheahan, 3. Luke Masters, 4. Sean Duffy, 5. Cian Barry, 6. Jacob Sheahan, 7. Peter Hyland, 8. Jack Kelleher.

Replacements: 16. George Good, 17. Mike Cogan, 18. David Good, 19. Mark Skelly, 20. Ronan Byrd, 21. Dylan Hicks, 22. Sean Condon.