Photos thanks to @naasrugbyphotos

ENERGIA All-IRELAND LEAGUE DIVISION 1B

Naas 22 – Highfield 24

Naas continued their Energia All-Ireland League Division 1B campaign last Saturday afternoon with a home fixture against Highfield. Earlier in the week the sensational news of the signing of Sean O’Brien for Naas was confirmed, which may have contributed to the larger than normal attendance. A glorious afternoon certainly helped in this regard.

The attendance saw the visitors score first after only six minutes. A superb break in midfield by Cian Bohane took play into the Naas 22. From here Highfield remained patient, going through the phases before quickly moving the ball out to the right, where Bohane was on hand to finish off the move he had started. James Taylor added the conversion to give them a seven points lead.

Naas responded quickly with a Craig Ronaldson penalty reducing the margin after ten minutes, and the home side went in front just five minutes later. Paul Monahan won a line-out and the forwards worked hard to take play right up to the Highland line before the ball was moved wide right. Good hands by the backs created an overlap for Andrew Osborne, and he dived over in the corner for a fine score. Although Craig Ronaldson missed the conversion, Naas now led by 8-7.

The next 15 minutes belonged to Highfield and they came close on a number of occasions to scoring. Firstly their famed driving maul crashed over the Naas line, but they were unable to ground the ball and the home side were awarded a goal-line drop-out. Then Gavin O’Leary nearly got in for a try when he chipped over the Naas backs but Nato Kiripati just got back to touch down the ball ahead of him, and then after 27 minutes James Taylor missed a relatively easy penalty attempt from 35 yards out.

However this spell of Highfield dominance was rewarded after 29 minutes, when scrum-half Richard Cassidy picked up a ball at the base of a ruck and spotting that there was no Naas player covering the blind-side, he darted down the left wing to score. This time Taylor was successful with his kick and Highfield led 14-8.

Naas finished the half strongly and came close to getting another score just on half-time. From a scrum on the ten metre line, the backs moved the ball out left but just as Donal Conroy was about to score he was bundled into touch, and soon afterwards referee Henry Richmond blew the half-time whistle.

Highfield suffered a blow within five minutes of the restart when Amhlaoibh Porter received a yellow card for a deliberate knock on, but Naas failed to make use of their numerical superiority. Then just as the sin binning period was coming to an end, Naas lost their own line-out and Highfield ruthlessly punished the mistake. They picked up the loose ball from the line-out, quickly moved it into midfield to Cian Bohane who sliced through the Naas defence to score. The home side will be disappointed with the concession of this score, as their defence which normally is exemplary was badly caught out here. James Taylor added the conversion and the Corkmen led by 21 points to 8.

On 58 minutes the Naas coaching team made two changes, bringing in Charlie Sheridan and Oscar Cawley, and never in their wildest dreams could they have expected them to have made such an immediate impact. On the very first play after their arrival, the ball was passed to Sheridan whose sidestep left two Highland defenders grasping at thin air. He took off and when finally stopped he passed inside to Cawley who raced clear to score under the posts. With Ronaldson adding the conversion it was all to play for with the gap reduced to just 21-15.

Try as they might Naas just could not get the score that would break the Highfield resistance and there is no doubt that the visitors were hanging on for dear life in that final quarter. But the game was eventually put out of the reach of Naas on 78 minutes, when they were harshly penalised for wheeling a scrum. James Taylor made no mistake with his penalty attempt to stretch the Highfield lead to 24-15.

There was still time for Sheridan and Cawley to combine again for another fabulous score which saw the latter scoring under the posts, and although Ronaldson added the conversion Naas simply ran out of time and suffered a 24-22 defeat.

So, a second successive defeat for Naas but certainly a lot more positives to take from this performance. They have an extremely potent and exciting back-line and given a decent amount of ball throughout the season, they will cause untold problems for any defence. Next up for Naas is an away fixture against Old Belvedere next Saturday afternoon. Kick-off is at 2.30pm and as always all support will be greatly appreciated.

Naas: Mark McDermott, Andrew Osborne, Henry Smith, Craig Ronaldson, Donal Conroy, Bryan Croke, Conor Halpenny, Adam Coyle, Nato Kiripati, Peter King, Patrick O’Flaherty, Colm Gorry, Paul Monahan (capt), Will O’Brien, Ryan Casey. Replacements: Paul Carroll, Jack Barry, Cillian Dempsey, Eoin Walsh, Oscar Cawley, Charlie Sheridan

Highfield: Mark McLoughlin, Ben Murphy, Cian Bohane, David O’Sullivan, Gavin O’Leary, James Taylor, Richard Cassidy, Cillian Buckley, Travis Coomey, Ian McCarthy, John O’Callaghan, Aidan Keane, David O’Connell (capt), Amhlaoibh Porter, Miah Cronin. Replacements: Robert Murphy, Daragh Fitzgerald, Edward Earle, Mark Fitzgibbon, Chris Bannon, Mark Dorgan.

Referee: Henry Richmond.