Nenagh Ormond U16 14 Thurles U16 5

 Report by Mike Fogarty

Nenagh Ormond under 16s played Thurles in the third round of the Munster U16 competition on Sunday last. Conditions were greasy which made handling quite difficult at times. Thurles kicked off the game and got their hands on the ball early after a Nenagh error. From the resulting scrum the speedy Thurles full back scored a great try in the corner after good link play. The extras were missed but it was still a big early setback considering it was the first attack of the day. From the kick off Nenagh started carrying the ball with real intent. Aidan Steed, Luke Slattery, Shaun Murphy were all making good yards with each carry. In fairness to Thurles their back row didn’t shy back from contact, and it set the tone for a real tough physical battle throughout the game. Nenagh eventually got themselves on the score sheet midway through the half. After good work by the forwards on the right hand side, the ball was moved into midfield where Luke Slattery broke the line of the defence and in contact off loaded to Cody O’Connor who got in to score. Cody then kicked the difficult conversion to leave the score 7-5. The rest of the first half turned into a real ding dong battle with both teams making errors due to the difficult handling conditions.

Nenagh kicked off the second half and put Thurles under pressure but their defence held firm on several occasions. There weren’t many scoring opportunities in the half as the game was played mostly between the 22s. The Thurles outhalf was a real handful with ball in hand making mazy runs. With only 2 points between the teams both teams pressed for a winning score. Thurles missed a long range penalty and Nenagh from a clever cross field kick by Marcus Finn were unlucky not to score. The only score of the second came with 4 mins left on the clock. Cian Murphy made a good break up the right side, the ball was moved to Luke Slattery who made huge ground when he spotted a gap. He was hauled down close to the line and at the ensuing ruck Kaden Fogarty sniped and dotted the ball down on the line. Kaden kicked the conversion to leave the score 14-5. Thurles came back at Nenagh but the Nenagh defence held firm with no further scores added.

The game overall was a real attritional battle with both teams contributing to a great spectacle of physicality. Training continues Wednesdays and Fridays.