Successful outing for Naas in UBL Round 3

Naas senior squad hosted University College Cork (UCC) for their round 3 Ulster Bank League (UBL) game at Forenaughts on Saturday last (26th Sept). The game kicked off in glorious sunshine and was watched by a large contingent of enthusiastic supporters.

Naas opened the scoring in the 3rd minute with a short range penalty kick from full-back Peter Osborne after UCC collapsed a maul on the 22.

Minutes later UCC wing, James Kiernan gathered from a kick ahead by the Naas centre and attacked with pace down the left touchline and went very close to scoring in the corner but for a superb final tackle by scrum-half Rob Campbell.

In the 10thminute UCC full-back Kevin O’Keeffe levelled the score with an accurate penalty kick from 30m, after Naas had pulled down a maul on the right flank.

For the remainder of the first quarter, Naas had to defend vigorously as they conceded repeated penalties that enabled UCC to kick for line-outs deep inside the Naas 22. Prominent for Naas in defence were Andrew Kearney, Shane Reilly, John Sutton, Jason Harney, Darragh Kiely, David Benn, Ryan Casey, Will O’Brien.

In the 21thminute out-half Tim Clifford exploited space in the Naas defence and scored an outstanding try in the right corner, after Naas were forced to commit numbers defensively in the centre. Kevin O’Keeffe kicked brilliantly to secure the conversion, giving UCC a 10-3 point lead.

Naas continued to concede penalties and made a number of handling errors which allowed UCC to take play deep into their 22 and they might have crossed the Naas whitewash in the 30thminute except for a crucial interception, again by Rob Campbell to disrupt the attack on the right flank.

In the 36thminute, the pressure by UCC paid off when they were awarded a penalty try after Naas full-back, Peter Osborne was judged to have intentionally knocked and he was sent to the bin. Kevin O’Keeffe slotted the conversion with ease to extent the UCC lead to 17-3.

Naas responded however, with an outstanding try scored by full-back Fionn Higgins just before of the interval after he combined in the centre with Henry Bryce to touch down on the right flank, following a Naas ligneous on the 10m line. The conversion was narrowly missed to give UCC a half-time lead of 17-8.

Naas started the second-half more confidently and won an early penalty after UCC went offside at a ruck on halfway. David Aherne kicked superbly to give Naas a 5m lineout on the right flank. Following the lineout secured  by Will O’Brien, Rob Campbell and David Aherne then combined to put Johne Murphy through in the centre for an outstanding try in the 45thminute. This was converted by Peter Osborne to narrow the deficit to 2 points.

Naas secured from the restart through flanker Ryan Casey, who combined with David Benn, Darragh Kiely and David Aherne. Fionn Higgins then gathered and kicked to the UCC 22, but was tackled off-the-ball whilst following up and won a penalty which also resulted in the UCC centre being sent to the bin. Peter Osborne kicked brilliantly to edge Naas into a narrow but significant lead, in the 50thminute and he extended this lead in the 57thminute with a further penalty from 30m range after UCC went offside at a ruck.

It was not until the 66thminute that UCC scored their first points of the second period, which came from a further Kevin O Keeffe penalty on the Naas 22. However 2 minutes later, the UCC tight-head prop was sent to the bin for slowing down play and Peter Osborne again slotted over from the 22 to cancel out the advantage.

A further Peter Osborne penalty in the 72ndminute and an outstanding try by Naas back-row Paul Tolofua, which was also converted by Peter Osborne, effectively ended the game as a contest.

It was UCC however who had the final say with an injury time try scored by hooker Dan Healy and brilliantly converted from the left touchline by Kevin O’Keeffe to earn the visitors a valuable losing bonus point.

Naas senior squad travel to Tipperary next weekend, on Saturday 3rd October, for their round 4 UBL game against Cashel which kicks off at the usual time of 2:30 pm.

Report by Jim Casey Scores / Scorers: Naas 34: (Peter Osborne 5 pens, 2 cons, Fionn Higgins 1 try, Johne Murphy 1 try, Paul Tolofua 1 try) UCC 27: (Kevin O Keeffe 2 pens, 3 cons, Tim Clifford 1 try, 1 pen try, Dan Healy 1 try)

Naas Team: 15. Peter Osborne 14. Rob O’Connor 13. Henry Bryce (Brian Fitzgerald, 75’) 12. Johne Murphy 11. Fionn Higgins 10. David Aherne 9. Rob Campbell (David Barron, 65’) 1. Shane Reilly (Bob Bryan, 75’) 2. John Sutton (Charles Kings, 45’) 3. Jason Harney 4. Darragh Kiely 5. David Benn 6. Ryan Casey (Paul Tolofua, 65’) 7. William O’Brien 8. Andrew Kearney (Capt.). Replacements: 16. Charles Kings 17. Bob Bryan 18. Paul Tolofua 19. David Barron 20. Brian Fitzgerald

UCC Team: 15. Kevin O’Keeffe  14. Killian Ansboro 13. Kevin Slater 12. Linn Murray 11. James Kiernan 10. Tim Clifford 9. Charlie O’Regan 1. Charlie Slowey 2. Ben Burns 3. Colin Jackson 4. Ben Mitchell 5. Edward Earle 6. Conor Barry 7. Cathal Gallagher 8. Richard Moran. Replacements: 16. Daniel Healy 17. Seamus Hogan 18. Luke Mangan 19. Cian Murphy 20. Cillian Monahan