Nenagh Ormond gets their Munster Cup title defence of to an impressive start

Bank of Ireland Munster Senior Cup – Round 1

NENAGH ORMOND 40 

UL Bohemians 17

By Mike McMahon

Nenagh Ormond got their defence of the Munster Senior Cup off to a winning start with a comfortable 40-17 victory over UL Bohemians at New Ormond Park last Saturday.

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Playing into a stiff breeze, the home team started quickly and went ahead when prop Matt Burke went over for the opening try with less than five minutes on the clock.

Although the visitors had plenty of possession and looked dangerous out wide, Nenagh’s defence always looked comfortable, and it was only a lapse in concentration that allowed the lively Bohs scrum-half Donnchadh O'Callaghan to slip in for a try on seven minutes following a quickly tapped penalty.

Further Nenagh tries from Mikey Doran and Patrick Scully, either side of a penalty for UL Bohs, left the score at 21-10 at the break, and with the breeze at their backs in the second half, the home side looked in command.

A fine opportunist try from substitute Derek Corcoran early in the second half more or less sealed the issue as both sides unloaded their bench. Two high tackles resulted in Nenagh going down to 13 at one stage in the second half, but even then, the Limerick men could not penetrate an excellent Nenagh defence.

Two further tries from Conor O’Shaughnessy and John O’Flaherty brought the home tally to 40 points before UL Bohs got a consolation try at the death, when Cian Casey latched on to a lineout overthrow to score in the corner.

Next up for Nenagh will be Cork Constitution, who overcame local rivals Dolphin in their first-round tie at Temple Hill. That match will take place at New Ormond Park next Saturday (13th) and sets up to be an exciting encounter between these two Division 1A rivals.

Scorers: Nenagh Ormond: Tries: Mikey Doran, Matthew Burke, Patrick Scully, Derek Corcoran, Conor Shaughnessy, John O’Flaherty; Cons: Aaron Kelly (5).

UL Bohemians: Tries: Donnchadh O’Callaghan, Darren Ferrar; Cons: Darragh O’Gorman, Cian Casey; Pen: Darragh O’Gorman.

NENAGH ORMOND: Sam Cusack, Conor Shaughnessy, Willie Coffey, Patrick Scully, Brian O’Rourke, Aaron Kelly, Nicky Irwin; Mikey Doran, Dylan Murphy, Matthew Burke, Jake O’Kelly, Kevin Seymour, Joe Coffey, Evan Murphy, John O’Flaherty.

Replacements: Robbie Tynan, Niall O’Gorman, Darragh McSweeney, Fionn O’Meara, Rob Buckley, Luke Kerr, Derek Corcoran.

UL BOHEMIANS: Greg Fitzgerald, Myles Lawler, Killian Dineen, Paul Clancy, Joe Johnston, Darragh O’Gorman, Donnchadh O’Callaghan; Kean Sheehy, Darren Ferrar, Jake Considine, Simon Staunton, Padraic Galvin, Seamus Branagh, Cillian McNamara, Liam Neilan.

Replacements: Sam Lynch, Pauric Nesbit, Jack Ryan, Gavin Sheehan, Cian Casey, Joel Rowntree, Liam O’Shanahan.

Referee: Brian Bennett

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