Hickey is thrilled with Cork Con’s start

AIL RUGBY

Daire Walsh

AFTER seeing his side weather a late storm against St Mary’s College, in their Ulster Bank League Division 1A opener last Saturday afternoon, Cork Constitution coach, Brian Hickey, was delighted to come away with a 20-16 victory.

Con had led by 14 points (17-3) in the early stages of the second-half, before Mary’s set-up a tense finale for the Temple Hill men.

However, the visitors took advantage of a strong breeze in the latter stages, and, with their defeat to Galwegians 12 months ago still fresh in his mind, Hickey was glad that they got over the line.

“I think the breeze was into that corner, and it was pleasing, but it was also frustrating, insofar as, why didn’t we do it for the 35 minutes prior to that?

“That will happen, and I’d be much happier having the win than last year, when we played Galwegians in the opening game. They were the things that cost us dear.

“Today, they could have cost us, but didn’t,” Hickey said.

There were impressive aspects to Con’s play, with the tries from Liam O’Connell and Niall Kenneally showcasing their ability to move the ball at pace.

Hickey believes this is a common feature of the league, and he was pleased that his players managed to execute these moves.

“I think, in fairness, Mary’s bust us up the middle with that a lot, and I just think runners coming from deep, and a good interplay, that’s a feature of this league. Teams are very, very good at making chances.

“It’s a much-maligned league, but I think you’ve very, very good players there. I was quite pleased with our execution of it, once again we got in behind them.”

Yet, despite coming through with four points in the end, Hickey acknowledged that there are areas of their game they will need to improve.

He feels their pre-season trip to Canada made it difficult for some of their first-team squad, but is confident that they will be able to sort any lingering issues in the coming weeks.

“I think our trip to Canada was quite divisive.

“It was very beneficial for the 23/24 players who were on it, and then it meant that the 10 or 15 guys who weren’t on it, part of the first-team squad, we had to blend them back in.

“I think, today, that rustiness showed, but I think, at the end of these four games, hopefully, all those little issues will be bedded-down for both sides,” Hickey added.

AIL RUGBY

Daire Walsh

ST MARY’S COLLEGE………………………….. 16

CORK CONSTITUTION…………………………. 20

TRIES from Rob Jermyn, Liam O’Connell and Niall Kenneally were crucial at Templeville Road on Saturday, when Con survived a late St Mary’s onslaught to claim a narrow win in Division 1A of the Ulster Bank League.

In their first game of the top-flight campaign, last season’s runners-up Con established a foothold in the Mary’s 22 during the early exchanges, with winger Jermyn eventually crossing over in the right-corner for a fifth-minute try.

Fly-half Tomas Quinlan was wide of the mark from the conversion, but with his opposite number Kearns also missing the target from penalties in the 19th and 23rd, the visitors remained five points in front.

Indeed, after Kenneally made a strong break into enemy territory, O’Connell was left with the simple task of touching down underneath the posts.

Quinlan comfortably supplied the bonuses, before Mary’s finally got off the mark with a stoppage-time Kearns penalty.

Con’s interval advantage had been reduced to nine points (12-3), but within 60 seconds of the restart, Jermyn provided the spadework for a much-deserved Kenneally five-pointer.

The Leesiders appeared to be in pole position at this point, but the sin-binning of Ger Sweeney left them with a numerical disadvantage.

Kearns added a second place-kick in his absence, and just as Sweeney was about to re-enter the play, number eight Conor Kendergan also received a yellow-card from referee Stuart Gaffikin.

Brian Hickey’s charges held firm for much of this period, before a seven-point Kearns salvo on 70 minutes helped Mary’s to storm into contention.

Another three-pointer by Kearns reduced the gap to a minimum, but Con ultimately secured the spoils after Quinlan split the posts five minutes into added time.

Scorers for St Mary’s College: Sean Kearns try, 3 pens, con.

Scorers for Cork Constitution: Rob Jermyn, Liam O’Connell, Niall Kenneally try each, Tomas Quinlan pen, con.

ST MARY’S COLLEGE: J McDonnell; T Kennedy, R O’Loughlin, I Dineen, M Fogarty; S Kearns, P O’Driscoll; T O’Reilly, H Kean, B McGovern; C Ruddock, C O’Flaherty; N McCarthy, D Aspil, K Sheahan.

Replacements: Daragh Keller for Sheahan (14), Ian Cullinane for McDonnell (35), Richard Halpin for O’Flaherty (67).

CORK CONSTITUTION: S Daly; L O’Connell, N Hodson, N Kenneally, R Jermyn; T Quinlan, J Poland; G Duffy, M Abbott, G Sweeney; B Hayes, D O’Shea; E Mintern, S Dwyer, C Kendergan.

Replacements: Jason Higgins for Quinlan (51), Liam O’Connor for Dwyer (52-59), Greg Roche for Abbott, Quinlan for Poland (both 74), JJ O’Neill for Jermyn (77).

Referee: Stuart Gaffikin (IRFU).

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE 16 CORK CONSTITUTION 20, Templeville Road
Scorers: St. Mary’s College: Try: Sean Kearns; Con: Sean Kearns; Pens: Sean Kearns 3
Cork Constitution: Tries: Rob Jermyn, Liam O’Connell, Niall Kenneally; Con: Tomas Quinlan; Pen: Tomas Quinlan
HT: St. Mary’s College 3 Cork Constitution 12

Cork Constitution survived a late onslaught from hosts St. Mary’s College to claim a deserved 20-16 win in their Ulster Bank League opener at Templeville Road.

Con captain Niall Kenneally’s 41st-minute try had put 14 points between the sides and although young out-half Sean Kearns inspired a determined fight-back from Mary’s, they ultimately had to settle for a losing bonus point.

A Kearns penalty on the stroke of half-time was Mary’s only score of the first half, as the Leesiders turned around with a 12-3 advantage.

On their return to Division 1A, Mary’s fell behind to a fifth-minute try from winger Rob Jermyn who crossed in the right corner via neat passes from Kenneally and hooker Max Abbott.

The injury-enforced departure of number 8 Kevin Sheahan, coupled with two penalty misses by Kearns, hampered Mary’s and with 33 minutes on the clock, a powerful break by Kenneally paved the way for winger Liam O’Connell to notch Con’s second try.

A third touchdown followed on the resumption, the impressive Jermyn breaking from deep to send centre Kenneally crashing over. Tomas Quinlan’s conversion was blocked by Terry Kennedy.

Mary’s dug their heels in, however, and Kearns fired over his second penalty. Soon, the visitors lost forwards Ger Sweeney and Conor Kindregan in back-to-back sin-binnings.

Just before Kindregan’s return to the pitch, Kearns sidestepped his way through for a seven-pointer. He increased his influence with a curling penalty in the 73rd minute, cutting the gap to just 17-16.

Mary’s were suddenly hot on Con’s heels, but Brian Hickey’s men eventually prevailed thanks to a coolly-struck injury-time penalty from out-half Quinlan.

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE: Jonathan McDonnell; Terry Kennedy, Ryan O’Loughlin, Ivan Dineen, Mark Fogarty; Sean Kearns, Paddy O’Driscoll; Tom O’Reilly, Hugo Kean, Brian McGovern, Ciaran Ruddock, Cathal O’Flaherty, Nick McCarthy, David Aspil, Kevin Sheahan.

Replacements: Richard Halpin, Emmet Ferron, Daragh Keller, Ian Cullinane, Zach O’Hagan.

CORK CONSTITUTION: Shane Daly; Liam O’Connell, Ned Hodson, Niall Kenneally (capt), Rob Jermyn; Tomas Quinlan, John Poland; Gavin Duffy, Max Abbott, Ger Sweeney, Brian Hayes, Darren O’Shea, Conor Kindregan, Sonny Dwyer, Evan Mintern.

Replacements: Liam O’Connor, Greg Roche, Cian Barry, Jason Higgins, JJ O’Neill.

Commanding Cork Con repel late challenge from St Mary’s

RUGBY: ULSTER BANK LEAGUE PREVIEW: FIONN CARR INTERVIEW

Carr ready for second Naas debut

By Daire Walsh

THIS Saturday promises to be a day to remember for Kildare native Fionn Carr, who will be donning the green and white of Naas RFC for the first time in almost two decades.

After his second spell with Guinness Pro12 champions Connacht came to an end during the summer, Carr opted to return to the club that first introduced him to the game of rugby – and when he received a phone call from his ex-Newbridge College team-mate Johne Murphy, it proved to be an easy decision for him.

“It will be a bit different, but it will be interesting to throw back on the Naas jersey again. It will probably be over 18 years [since I last played with them],” Carr remarked.

“Johne got onto me, and just asked me if I’d be interested, and I said ‘sure, why not?’ He was there, and I knew a few guys there from previous, lads that I was in school with, and lads that I would have played underage with. It made it quite easy.”

Although Connacht enjoyed a groundbreaking 2015/16 season under the guidance of Pat Lam, it proved to be a frustrating campaign for Carr – who made just six first-team appearances in total.

The 30-year-old revealed that he was looking at a couple of different options (including the possibility of moving abroad), but ultimately found that Naas was the perfect fit for him.

“I was looking at a few different things, but I was kind of contemplating going maybe abroad as well, which I still might do. At the time, I kind of wanted to get off the ground probably work-wise and that type of thing. It just fitted at the right time as well for me.

“For me it was probably a little bit of a frustrating season, but that’s the way the game goes. Sometimes you can get picked, other times you won’t. It’s just the nature of the game, I suppose.”

Considering he spent much of his professional career in Galway, Carr is ideally placed to run the rule over Saturday’s opponents, Galwegians. He feels their mixture of youth and experience will make them one of the teams to beat in the second-tier, and knows they will be eager to bounce straight back up to Division 1A.

“I’d know a bit about them alright. They’re a good side, there’d be a lot of young Connacht Academy players, and a few senior players thrown in. It’ll be quite a tough game. After coming down from 1A last year, I’m sure they’ll be one of the hot favourites to go back up.”

As player/coach, Johne Murphy will have a massive role to play with Naas both on and off the pitch this season. Although Carr wasn’t a part of the set-up that gained promotion from Division 2A last May, he has nevertheless been impressed with the way Murphy has attempted to implement the professional aspects of the Munster and Leicester set-ups he played in.

“Yeah, Johne has done well. He’s obviously got stuck into the coaching straight away. He was a good pro, so he’s probably brought a lot of knowledge from Munster, and the professional game in Leicester, that he’s learnt over the years. It’s a game that he’s trying to implement in Naas, so he’s going really well.”

While the upcoming campaign may well be a tough transition for Naas, the recent history of teams coming up to Division 1B does provide room for encouragement. Carr is reluctant to follow the model of other clubs, however, as he believes the squad unity and culture within the club will be the true driving force for them this term.

“They could look at other clubs, but to be honest, I don’t think Naas really have to. Teams that come up from 2A, I suppose, have momentum, and that’s what I’d like to think that Naas have, a bit of momentum coming into 1B now, and that there’s good unity in the squad. There’s a good culture in the club, and I think Naas will kick on and do quite well this year in the league,” Carr added.

Naas begin their UBL Division 1B season against Galwegians at Forenaughts on Saturday 17 September at 2.30pm.