Ards enhance all Ireland status

Ards 17 : 16 Nenagh

Roy Lawton reports

With only three games in the AIB League remaining and senior status still not fully secured for another season, Ards welcomed top four side Nenagh Ormond to Hamilton Park on Saturday.

Nenagh are lying eight places above Ards in the league, sitting comfortably in fourth place just behind Banbridge, so Ards would need to be at their best if they were to salvage anything from such formidable Munster opposition.

Ards were buoyed from last week's handsome victory over Portadown and were looking to continue with their recent good form, as the visitors surged forward to pressurise the Ardsmen.

The ball was initially fielded well but a couple of handling errors by Ards gave possession away and on 3 minutes Nenagh's left winger Davy Corcoran, touched down for the opening score converted by Davy Delaney. This served as a warning to Ards who up upped their game plan accordingly to shrug off this early setback.

At times, Ards seemed to struggle to gain possession in the opening exchanges and On 15 minutes, Delaney landed a penalty to go 10 points up in the first quarter. Ards skipper Stewart Paul, barked his demands of his players and on 19 minutes, laid down his own marker with a barnstorming run and a superb try, supported by the ever present Scott Young, converted by Michael Lawton.

On 31 minutes, Ards levelled the score to 10 apiece with a well struck penalty by Lawton and all of a sudden, Nenagh didn€t look as invincible as their reputation might have suggested. Scott Young, Taylor Ferguson, Conor Piper and Jaydon Hill all put in a hard shift and took the ball on long carries gaining good yardage or tracked back to make that all important tackle as and when required.

Delaney kicked another penalty as both teams pushed to get the upper hand but this only seemed to spur on the Ardsmen as Johnny Millar, Andy Hassard and Andrew Foster's physical presence became even more noticeable at the rucks and mauls as they bulldozed and battered their way round the park, ripping into their opposite numbers and driving them back. And to prove a point, Stewart Paul raced up at the restart and plucked the ball out of the sky from under the noses of the startled Nenagh forwards, such was his desire to set the pace for his team to follow.

Five minutes into the second half and Delaney landed his third penalty of the day and increased Nenagh's lead to 16 points to 10 but Ards were to have the final say later on in the game..

Ards back three of Mark Banford, Lawton and Ferguson had to be on top of their game as Nenagh's game plan was now even more evident as they repeatedly kicked possession away and raced up forcing Ards into making a couple of hasty and sometimes risky decisions but thankfully everything paid off and the danger was cleared.

55 minutes into the game and Ards were on the charge once again. Good ball was being recycled by player after player before it eventually found its way into the hands of Scott Young. The former Ulster player then showed great pace and excellent skill to finish off a great passage of play as he raced for the line to score his fourth try of the season, again converted by Lawton.