Thurles 2nd VV vs Old Crescent

Thurles seconds faced Old Cresent in their third game of the Gleeson league on Saturday last. Conditions were excellent, the pitch was in great nick and there could be no excuses for not performing.
Old Cresent opened the scoring with a simple penalty kick within the first ten minutes of the game.
Thurles were a revived outfit from the previous weeks defeat to Richmond and had a point to prove.
Thurles were carrying ball well and looked impressive during the opening quarter. This hard work from the pack paid off after 30 minutes when Anthony Guinan received a ball down the short side and with a man to beat and the try line 40 metres away had some work to do before touching down under the posts. Adrian Bourke duly converted leaving the score 7 - 3 at half time. Thurles had all the momentum going into the second half and were looking good for the win.
The immense Colm Skehan opened the scoring for Thurles in the second half breaking from the back of a scrum deep in his own half and handing off players in a run that was akin to that seen in the 1997 Playstation game Lomu Rugby.
Bourke again was on hand to split the posts for Thurles.
Credit to Old Cresent they were not going to take the game lying down. After working their way up the field through some good phases they scrambled over the whitewash. Luckily for Thurles, Cresent missed the conversion leaving the home team 6 points clear.
This was a wake up call for Thurles. Within 5 minutes of conceding the home team were on the attack. The ball went swiftly through a number of Thurles hands to Steven Sherry who drew the tackle and offloaded to the supporting Ross Chrystal. The Sligo native didn't have to be asked twice when the space opened up and showed a clean pair of heels to the would be Cresent tackles.
The Limerick side were by no means dead. They again worked their way to within metres of the Thurles try line hammering the Thurles defence with phase after phase of hard carries around the fringes. Were it not for the presence of mind from the substitute Shawn Fitzgerald preventing the Cresent pack from grounding the ball it would have left Thurles with a tense game over the final minutes. Old Cresents persistence paid off and with only a few minutes left on the clock they slipped through a tired Thurles defence at the edge of a ruck 5 metres from the Thurles line. The Old Cresent kicker rushed the conversion and his drop kick attempt from in front of the posts went wide. With that the referee blew the final whistle leaving Thurles worthy winners.
On the day for Thurles every player who took the field done a stout job. Adrian Bourke adopted a running game at 10 and had a flawless 3 out of 3 kicks. Mark Cummins tackled well in the centres and was ably assisted by the powerful Steven Berry. In the pack Liam Devaney was covered every blade of grass of the field. Matthew Booth contested aggressively for scrappy ball all day and was well supported by a consistent Dwane Stanley.
The old warrior Johnny Red when introduced with 20 minutes to go steadied the ship for Thurles bringing three decades of playing experience to the table.
Shane Nugent hit his mark in the lineouts and supported well around the field, his front row partner Michael Ely got a real taste for crashing and carrying ball around the fringes, always breaking the gain line.
Great thanks must go to Shay Scanlon and Kevin O'Dwyer for managing the team on the day and that their hard work during Friday evenings training paid off.
Thurles team. Michael Flanagan, Shane Nugent, Michael Ely, Liam Devaney, Steven Bourke, Dwane Stanley, Matthew Booth, Colm Skehan, Ollie Delaney (captain) Adrian Bourke, Ross Crystal, Mark Cummins, Stephen Berry, Rory O'Sullivan, Anthony Guinan
Substitutes
Brandon Shanahan for Ross Chrystal Sean Fitzgerald for Matthew Booth. Johnny Ryan Red for Michael Flanigan. Dylan Dorney for Steven Burke.