Thurles cruise past Thomond in Munster Junior Cup  

Thurles RFC       31

Thomond RFC   24

Thurles cruised to an easy victory in the third round of the Munster Junior Cup over Thomond in Loughtagalla on Sunday last, while the score line may reflect a different story, Thurles after emptying the bench and had two players in the bin allowed Thomond to score three try’s in the final five minutes to make the score some bit respectable.  The old saying was very true it was a game of two halves, with Thurles in total control in the first half and then sitting back on their lead in the second half.

Thurles started at a fantastic pace and from the very start Thurles used the stiff wind to their advantage and pinned down Thomond from the kick-off and when they tried to clear their lines were swamped by the attacking team the ball was kicked loose down the field and picked up by the winger  Owen Byrne  who sped up into the 22 and formed a ruck, Prop John Shaw picked up the ball and drove for the line he was stopped short of the line and Kelly powered over for the try, Conor O’Hagan  added the conversion. This was another example of excellent team play with all prepared to do the work needed to support the ball carrier.

The old habit of letting a team back into the match after scoring raised their ugly head again and within a minute Thomond had levelled the score after a very poor try from Thurles’s point of view with some very shoddy defending.

Within another couple of minutes Thurles had doubled their  lead when Thurles attacked the P&T side of the pitch with a run from Cathal Hayes he formed a ruck Thurles forwards drove over James Maher at scrum half flashed the ball out to outside half Seamie Houlihan fed the evergreen Eoghan O’Dwyer who ran from the halfway across to the other wing, dodged a couple of tackles,  handed off another couple of defenders to score in the corner. Conor added the conversion.

Thurles  were motoring now and some of the play was as good as had been seen in Loughtagalla in a long time the forwards were brilliant at driving forward and supporting each other, with the laws allowing the rotation of players its hard to keep an eye with who’s on and who’s  off  the Ballyboden officials could be required to help out, but from Thurles point of view it helped as they kept the pressure up all the time as fresh legs were constantly used. Ger McCormack made a break he passed out to Cathal Hayes who ran down into the 22 and formed a ruck and James Maher  offloaded to the onrushing Conor Moloney who powered over near the post for another try, O’Hagan added the extras to leave the score at 21:7 . The half back combination of Seamie Houlihan at outside half and James Maher worked very well when the team was driving forward.

The second rows of Colin Nolan and Luke Kelly who is coming back from injury were very dominant all around the pitch. Nolan was unfortunate to receive a yellow card for been the next to give away a penalty after repeated penalties against the team.  John Shaw is constantly improving as a quality prop and Shane Nugent was consistent with his throwing and his all-around play.  

Conor O’Hagan added a penalty before half time to leaver the half time score 24 : 7

 Thomond came out in the second half with their tails up and ears reddened by the coach and attacked as one always expected them to do so, they camped on the Thurles 22 for the first 7 minutes of the second half, who had to knuckle down and eventually wore Thomond down and cleared their lines with a penalty and Maher cleared the ball downfield.

Thurles should have scored midway through the half when similarly to the first half Thurles broke from deep and after fantastic hand passing Owen Byrne raced for the line and as he was recycling the ball was harshly penalised for holding on too long allowing Thomond to clear their lines.

But within a few minutes Cathal Hayes again broke from deep passed to Conor O’Hagan who ran in for a try which he converted to go  31:7 up, an unthinkable score line against Thomond of old.

At this stage Thurles emptied the bench  and while  trying to blend in lots of players and a bit of pride and embarrassment from Thomond the wheels nearly came off as thomond tried to salvage something Thurles were penalised by the ref who during the course of the second half Binned Ger McCormack  and as soon as he was back on Ciaran Ryan and a thomond player were binned following a little bit of argy bargy,  Luke Kelly followed soon afterward for next to give away a penalty  which had Thurles down to 13 players. Thomond didn’t need to be asked twice and in the last six minutes ran in three tries in the corners which they converted only one of them. To leave the final score 31 :24      

For Thurles the back row was very strong with Sam Quinlan, Mark Cummins, Ciarán Ryan  Joey Kelly, Sonny Dwyer  & Rob O’Donovan all preforming very well  but a big issue is the amount of needless penalties given away at the contact area but with a month before the next round against UCC away, the coach has loads of time to remedy the situation.

The centre pairing of Conor O’Hagan and Eoghan O Dwyer worked well and Eamon Connelly slotted into the full back role effortlessly when required.

Any day you knock Thomond out of a Junior Cup with ease is a good day but all know that more effort and discipline is required to see out the end of the season, next on the list is Clanwilliam away next Sunday in the league.         

Team From . John Shaw, Shane Nugent, Ger McCormack, Daniel Lee, Luke Kelly C, Colin Nolan, Joe Kelly, Sam Quinlan, Conor Moloney, Sonny Dwyer, Mark Cummins, Ciaran Ryan, Rob O’Donovan, James Maher, Seamie Houlihan, Cathal Hayes, Paddy McGrath, Matthew Kelly, Owen Byrne, Conor O’Hagan, Eoghan O’Dwyer, Eamon Connolly, Luke Fogarty.

Thurles Rugby Club Sympathy is  expressed to the family of Frank Mockler (Rossa St) at the sad passing  of our former player (1954-1961). And also to the family of Michael Butler Mitchel St.