Saturday 27th March. James Barr reports.
Since the first meeting between Nenagh Ormond and Rainey Old Boys in an AIL qualifier five years ago, Lady Luck has smiled on the Tipperary North side. It continued to do so last Saturday when three hotly disputed decisions, two of them in injury time, helped them to hold on for an 11-3 victory,which takes them up to third place in the table.
They always looked the more likely of the two sides to score a try, and when they went 8-3 ahead on the hour mark with a stiff breeze in their favour, there appeared to be no way back for Rainey. Despite having to introduce all their replacements in the last quarter, Rainey dug deep to dominate up front and lay siege to the Nenagh line in the closing minutes. Even the most biased of home supporters would admit that Rainey deserved a losing bonus point.
Rainey’s prospects of a win were lessened by the absence of some key players and they failed to make full use of the wind on a firm surface. After a bright enough opening, Devlin stroked over a penalty from halfway to give them an early lead. Some good handling led to Dodunski cutting infield with support, but when the ball was spread wide, a wayward long pass put them in trouble. Nenagh’s forwards took a maul up to the Rainey line and they went through several phases before conceding a penalty to let the Old Boys off the hook.
Rainey out-half Martin was unlucky to watch two long kicks bounce the wrong way and cost his team a lot of ground. Devlin then suffered the same agony. After 27 minutes Rainey finally handled the ball in the home 22′, but some smart inter-passing was followed by a knock-on. They were then awarded a close range penalty, but chose to go for a try and threw in crooked at the lineout. With Hawe involved in all their best work and Stewart showing up well, Rainey continued to press, but when Richard Paul put in a little chip over a ruck, the Nenagh cover got there first.
Centre Tony Dodunski, making a last appearance for Rainey, broke from halfway to earn a penalty, but Devlin hooked his kick well wide. The inevitable happened five minutes into the half when out-half Delaney converting a penalty to level the scores. Nenagh stayed in Rainey territory, but Campbell gathered a loose ball to break out of defence but was unable to find his support with a long pass.
Rainey were hit by a reversed penalty decision after reaching the Nenagh 22′ and were keeping Nenagh at bay, but,after taking a strike against the head, they gave the ball away on halfway and right-wing Harvey evaded a weak challenge to race clear for a vital try.
Despite picking up some injuries, Rainey’s gritty pack were now winning some good ball, but Nenagh defended well and Delaney edged them further ahead when another decision went in their favour. Stewart brought off another important tackle to keep Rainey’s hopes alive and the introduction of O’Kane gave them another string to their bow. His ball-carrying put his side on the front foot and Nenagh had a second-row yellow carded for a professional foul as the Rainey forwards took over completely.
A series of rucks, mauls and penalties had Nenagh holding on desperately as the game entered injury time. Botha thought he had earned his side a bonus point when he darted through a gap from close range only for the referee to rule out the try, stating that his poor positional play had prevented a Nenagh player from getting a tackle in. Two minutes later he awarded Rainey a penalty on the 22′, about fifteen yards to the left of the posts. Perhaps he was trying to balance the books! It was to be the last kick of the match and not so simple because of the wind.
Many players and spectators from both camps were adamant that Devlin’s kick had passed between the uprights, while others were sure that the ball had gone left of the posts. The opinions that mattered, of course,were those of the match officials who,after some initial hesitation, ruled that the kick had gone wide.
Rainey had to use all their replacements, so that,when captain McCrea had to retire in the closing minutes, they were a man short. Hopefully,these players will have recovered by April 10 when Ards come to Hatrick Park.
TEAM : R Paul, A Campbell, T Dodunski, N Suiter, R Devlin, G Martin, R Paul, N Amos, S Sufferin, R Hill, P Stewart, D Dawson, C Brennan, R McCrea, S Hawe.
REPLACEMENTS : S McDowell ( Amos 60 ), R Botha ( Martin 65 ), C Donaghy ( Sufferin 68 ), G Eastwood ( Brennan 68 ), N O’Kane ( Campbell 75 )
Queen’s University,who lost only one game in Division 3,clinched the title with a 34-13 home win over Sunday’s Well while Midleton made sure of returning to Division 2 by defeating Banbridge 13-5 at home.Nenagh are sure of a place in the play-offs,while Banbridge will join them if they beat Navan at Rifle Park.
#Other Division 3 results were : Ards 44-11 Suttonians Co.Carlow 21-25 Connemara Instonians 10-16 Wanderers Naas 20-12 Barnhall Navan 16-14 Portadown
A long range drop goal in injury time gave Navan victory and leaves Portadown facing a play-off against the side finishing second in the round robin series in which City of Derry were beaten 17-9 by Seapoint at Judges Road.
