1 day Ago By Irishexaminer.com
Nenagh Ormond break new ground this Saturday afternoon when they begin life in Energia AIL Men’s Division 1B but if their development over the close season is any indication the north Tipperary club are in for another campaign of memorable firsts. The 2A champions were crowned Munster Senior Club of the Year earlier this month after their title-winning campaign took the 140-year-old club into 1B for the first time since they joined the All Ireland League in 2005-06. And when, on September 8, Nenagh marked the opening ceremony of their upgraded facilities at New Ormond Park, including a state of the art artificial playing surface, Tipperary’s first senior club toasted the occasion with a 31-12 Munster Senior Challenge Cup victory over reigning AIL 1A champions Cork Constitution.
“It was unbelievable,” Nenagh prop Jack O’Keefe told the Irish Examiner . “I don’t think anyone expected it but we said we wanted to perform, play with no fear and thankfully that got us the win. “We’ve upgraded the facilities around the place, have a new 4G pitch and there was a massive crowd there, which definitely helped.
We went down 12-0 but the crowd definitely helped us get on top and pushed us on.” O’Keefe said that no fear mentality would continue into the league season, with 1B contenders Trinity travelling from Dublin for the opening fixture this Saturday. “Nice to kick off the season at home and hopefully we get a big crowd out there, it’s a big game.
I don’t know if we’ve played Trinity before, probably not. A lot of the teams we’re playing this year we probably haven’t played before or won against. Playing Con last weekend was the first time we’d beaten them so it’s new territory for the club where we’re going.
It’s very exciting. “Obviously the AIL is a different competition and we’ve Trinity this week, it’s going to be completely different but it’s definitely given us good ambitions and confidence going into the AIL. “We haven’t set out any clear objectives for 1B.
We want to be competing, that’s in the nature of the team and the coaches. We saw that against the 1A champions when they came to town. We could have just said we’ll try and give them a game but we want to be competing, we want to be winning.
“Look, it’s going to be tough. It’s a crazy league, you’ve seen that over the last two years but hopefully we can compete and be somewhere near the top come the end of it. “It’s just about doing it week in, week out, I suppose but we definitely know we can if we play to our ability and that’s what we’ll be hoping for.
” O’Keefe praised the stability and confidence instilled in a young squad by the Nenagh Ormond coaching ticket led by first team head coach Derek Corcoran under club director of rugby John Long. This will be their third season together and with very little player churn in that time, strong bonds have been formed. The 23-year-old prop pinpoints the season before last as the beginning of the upturn and sowing the seeds for last the promotion-winning campaign that followed in 2023-24.
“I think the year before, that was kind of putting all the things together. That was our first season under the new coaching staff. We got to the Senior Cup final and we lost a promotion semi-final so I think we got a lot of base work done that year.
“Then last year was just building on that. We probably played a bit more ball and I think if you want to be playing 1A, 1B you have to be playing attacking ball but also be incredibly physical so it was just building on top of the foundations we laid two season ago. “The coaches have a massive work ethic.
When we played Con on the Saturday, we had (feedback) about the match on Sunday morning, which is crazy. The lads were only waking up and they were seeing analysis. Training as well, it’s structured, and they’ve brought a massive confidence.
“Derek is great. He’s played 1A with Young Munster for years and he brings a massive confidence and aura. He’s unbelievable.
Same with James Hickey, played with Shannon back in the 80s, 90s, 2000s and they’ve all brought a massive confidence and belief to what we can do. “It’s a relatively young team, I’m 23 myself, and we might have only two or three lads over the age of 30 so they’ve brought confidence to us younger lads because obviously coming into senior rugby is completely different to underage. And we’ve got a taste for it, winning week on week, so it’s just about keeping that going.
“There’s a great team spirit there, town and club. We’re a small club but we’re hoping to achieve big things.”.
