Hat-trick for Pope as Ormond continue winning start

RUGBY: Energia All-Ireland League Division 2A Round 3

Nenagh Ormond46

Navan6

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Ben Pope (Nenagh Ormond)

SCORERS – Nenagh Ormond:Tries – Pope (3), Rowland (2), Hayes, McMahon. Convs – McMahon (4) Pen – McMahon (1)

Navan: Pens –Gordon (2)

Nenagh Ormond returned to the home comforts of Lisatunny on Saturday for the visit of Navan in round three of the Energia All Ireland League.

Both sides came into this game unbeaten, and most observers would have anticipated that a close match was in the offing. What transpired however was quite the opposite as the home side cruised to a bonus-point win.

Nenagh were on the attack right from the off and an early penalty was sent to the corner where they hoped to open the scoring through their driving maul. However, Navan were alive to the threat and smothered the ball to win a turnover and the siege was lifted temporarily.

A high tackle shortly afterwards in sight of the posts allowed Navan to open their account with a well-struck penalty from Rory Gordon and so far, the script appeared to be following the prediction of parity.

From the restart, Nenagh were back on the attack. A penalty was conceded by Navan under pressure, but Conor McMahon was unable to convert and so a 22 dropout ensued. From there, Nenagh built pressure again and this time a chink was found in the Meath men’s cover and Ben Pope cut through to open Nenagh’s account. The wind was not cooperating for Conor McMahon in these early stages though and the conversion was wide.

Almost immediately, Nenagh were in business once more. Navan attempted an attack off a lineout around the middle third and Ben Pope was once more the man in the right place, reading the play superbly to pick off an intercept and streak away to score. This time the kick was good from McMahon and at 12-3 Nenagh were full value for their lead.

Navan were really struggling for territory despite having the breeze in their favour but Nenagh’s discipline once more deserted them to concede a cheap penalty in the middle of the park. Needing a score, Rory Gordon did not disappoint and brought the score to 12-6 from all of 40 metres out.

Amazingly though that was to be the end of Navan’s scoring for the day. From the next period of Nenagh pressure Navan were caught in possession in their own 22. A jackal turnover from John Healy gave Conor McMahon an easy shot at three points and Nenagh pushed the lead out to 15-6.

Shortly afterwards, Navan’s struggles in possession again played the key part. An attempted clearance kick was blocked by Dylan Murphy whose brother Evan was quickest to react, hacking the ball into the danger zone where Ben Pope was amazingly on hand to wrap up a hat-trick for himself before the half time whistle. Unfortunately for Navan it just seemed to be one of those days where every mistake was punished ruthlessly.

In spite all of this, Navan started the second half the brighter of the two sides. They put together what was perhaps their most significant period of attacking play in the game. Unfortunately, though once more their own systems let them down. A lineout in a promising position was called back for obstruction.

Nenagh took the opportunity to clear their lines and shortly after fashioned an excellent break for Willie Coffey. He was able to offload out of contact to the supporting Conor McMahon who looked to be away only to be tripped by a despairing Navan defender. Always sharp to a break, Josh Rowland was on hand to keep the continuity alive, and it was he who finished the move under the posts to secure the bonus point and extinguish any remaining Navan hopes with a half hour still to play.

It was all Nenagh thereafter with the bench being cleared and a strong showing in particular from John Hayes after his introduction. Under 20 player Evan Fitzpatrick got on to make his AIL debut, playing the closing twenty minutes on the wing.

There was time for Conor McMahon, Josh Rowland, and John Hayes to add tries for a very polished 46-6 victory.

This win rounded off an excellent opening block of three games for Nenagh with fourteen points from fifteen, ahead of a break week next weekend.

A second team fixture and a Donal Walsh Trophy game for the U20.5 side will mean the extended panel and anyone in need of minutes will see game time in the week ahead but for now all involved with the Nenagh Ormond senior team will be quietly confident of their prospects for the remainder of the season.

The next game for the senior side will be away to Old Crescent in Takumi Park on Saturday, November 4th. Complacency should not be an issue given the reversal suffered at that venue late last season.

TEAMS – Nenagh Ormond: Josh Rowland; Nicky Irwin, Willie Coffey, Patrick Scully, Conor McMahon; Ben Pope, Charlie O’Doherty; Mikey Doran, Dylan Murphy, Colm Skehan; Kevin O’Gorman, Kevin O’Flaherty, Rob Buckley, John Healy, Evan Murphy.

Reps: Seán Frawley, Jack O’Keefe, Jake O’Kelly, John Hayes, Evan Fitzpatrick

Navan: Rory Gordon; Paddy Fox, Sean McEntaggart, Peter McEntaggart, Sean Walsh; Evan Dixon, Mark Farrell; Liam Carroll, Jamie Kavanagh, Leigh Jackson; Liam McAree, Eoghan Noonan; Harry Beggy, Harry Hester, Conor Ryan.

Reps: Gary Faulkner, Ryan Healy, Jordan Finney, Robbie Lailvaux, Jake Matthews.