Nenagh Ormond U18.5 26 – Mallow U18.5 21
Nenagh secured a dramatic late victory to stun Mallow in a highly entertaining game played at Lisatunny last Sunday and qualify for the final of the U18.5 Munster Development Cup.
Nenagh hadn't played a competitive game for 5 weeks and it showed in the early stages of the game. Nenagh played with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half and despite enjoying most of the possession and territory, they weren't able to maintain enough continuity to put a determined Mallow team under sustained pressure and the game remained scoreless after twenty minutes. Nenagh remained calm and started to be more direct. Improved work at the breakdown allowed them to retain possession, and Mallow started to concede some penalties. Nenagh deservedly took the lead on 25 minutes when Adam Boland rounded off a fine move to score Nenagh's first try, Charlie Talbot added the extras. Nenagh failed to handle the restart and Mallow were awarded a scrum and scored a try under the posts to level the game at 7 all. Nenagh dominated the rest of the half and following a period of sustained pressure, Daragh Murphy powered over on the stroke of half time and Nenagh led 12-7 at half time.
The lead changed four times in the second half of the match as the play moved from one end of the field to the other. Mallow scored early in the second half to lead 14-12. Considering the strong breeze, Nenagh had a lot to do, but they showed great resilience and played their best rugby. Daragh Murphy got on the end of a fine team move to score under the posts and Nenagh led again 19-14. Nenagh were now dominating the game and threatened to extend their lead, but they were undone by handling errors and turnovers which allowed Mallow to remain in the game. Against the run of play and with 10 minutes remaining Mallow scored their third try to retake the lead 21-19. Nenagh did not sit back and continued to attack and set up camp inside the Mallow 22. When the ball came out to Diarmuid Gleeson from a ruck nothing looked on but he somehow managed to find space and ghost through the Mallow defense and score under the posts and Nenagh led again 26-21. There was still four minutes remaining. Mallow came again and made their way up the Nenagh try line. However, Nenagh's defense stood firm, and they forced Mallow to knock on. From the resulting scrum, Nenagh managed to close out the game and leave the final score 26-21.
The final will be against Old Christians, who beat Cobh Pirates 24-14 in the other semi-final, in Virgin Media Park on Saturday, March 21st with a kickoff time of 7:00pm.
