Week 3 of the 2024/2025 Energia All-Ireland League Division 1B season saw Naas travel to Thomond Park to face Shannon last Saturday afternoon. This is always a prestigious fixture for Naas as Shannon are the most successful club in the league, with no less than nine wins in the competition. However Naas have a great record against the Munster side and having begun this campaign impressively, they travelled south confident that they would return home victorious. This proved to be the case, with a five-point winning margin not doing justice to their superiority.

Weather forecasters in Ireland can be a bit hit and miss, but unfortunately their prediction of heavy rain in the south last Saturday proved to be spot on. It was torrential, and conditions for both players and spectators alike were abysmal. Credit therefore must go to both sides for the standard of the game that they produced.

Naas played with a stiff breeze at their backs in the first half, and were in front after just five minutes. Cormac King was taken out off the ball and from almost the half-way line Peter Osborne slotted the resulting penalty. But the lead only lasted three minutes. An attempted clearance kick by Naas full-back James O’Kane was blocked down and gathered by John O’Sullivan, who took play right up to the Naas line. From there the Shannon pack were stopped inches short of the line on a couple of occasions, before a quick pop pass by Ian Leonard found Cian O’Halloran who stepped inside an attempted tackle to score. John O’Sullivan added the conversion and Shannon led by seven points to three.

The visitors responded quickly. After 12 minutes, from a line-out take by James O’Loughlin, Will O’Brien attacked down the blind-side. A series of phases followed before Cormac King broke free from the side of a ruck, and raced away to score under the posts. Peter Osborne added the conversion and Naas were back in front by 10-7. Within three minutes there was another score. Naas lock Koloa Aisake received a yellow card for a high tackle, and John O’Sullivan was successful with the resulting penalty to level matters at ten points each.

The game was being played with incredible intensity and ferocity and there were numerous stoppages of play in the second quarter with players needing treatment. After 31 minutes a Peter Osborne penalty restored the Naas lead, but the visitors received a set back after 34 minutes, when following the intervention of a touch judge Cormac King received a yellow card. However, the 14 men of Naas responded in style. A quick tap penalty by Naas in the Shannon 22 caught the home side unawares and saw the visitors camped on the try line. A series of pick and goes followed before Will O’Brien managed to power over for a try which Peter Osborne converted. There was still time for John O’Sullivan to reply with a Shannon penalty in first-half injury time, to leave the score at the interval: Shannon 13 – Naas 20.

Shannon had the advantage of the wind in the second half and when they scored within three minutes of the resumption things looked bleak for Naas. A chip over the visitors defence by John O’Sullivan led to a sustained period of pressure by Shannon, before the ball was moved out wide to Harry Long who scored in the corner. Although the conversion was missed by O’Sullivan, the gap had been reduced to just two points (18-20) and the momentum was with the home side.

However, from this moment to the finish the Naas pack destroyed their opponents. They dismantled the Shannon scrum - winning no less than six penalties – and won all the collisions around the park. The visitors nearly increased their lead after 59 minutes, when one of these scrum penalties led to Peter Osborne having a shot at goal which went narrowly wide, but he made no mistake with a similar effort after 67 minutes – the penalty again won at scrum time.

Naas now led by 23 points to 18 and the home side never looked capable of turning around this deficit. Indeed, it was the visitors who looked more likely to score again and Shannon at times were forced to defend desperately, and indeed lost to Cian O’Halloran to a yellow card for a deliberate knock on as they struggled to keep Naas at bay.

But there was to be no further scoring, with Naas victorious by 23 points to 18. This was a win that will give Naas great satisfaction. Their previous game against Queen’s University was played on a glorious afternoon and they were able to spread the ball wide and attack at every possible opportunity – scoring over 60 points in the process. This was the complete opposite. They had to battle in terrible conditions and proved that they are more than capable of playing this way if needed.

After the first batch of games in this campaign Naas sit in third place in the league table, and will certainly look forward to the rest of the season with great optimism. Next up for them is a home fixture against Old Wesley on October 19th. Kick-off is at 2.30pm and as always all support will be greatly appreciated.

Shannon: Darren Gavin, Jack O’Donnell, Cian O’Halloran, Harry Long (capt), Stephen Kiely, John O’Sullivan, Ian Leonard, Aaron McNamara, Adam Moloney, Tony Cusack, Cian McCann, Jack Brady, Luke Moylan, Oisin Minogue, Lee Nicholas. Replacements: Shane Carew, Cathal Hynes, Michael Donnelly, Tadhg O’Brien, Evin Crowe, Cillian O’Connor.

Naas: James O’Kane, Donal Conroy, Charlie Sheridan, Paddy Taylor, Jack Sheridan, Peter Osborne, Cormac King, Conor Doyle, Aidan O’Kane, Adam Deay, Koloa Aisake, James O’Loughlin, Eoin Walsh, Will O’Brien (capt), Ryan Casey. Replacements: Francisco Bartorelli, Kaleem Niazi, Darragh Murphy, Muiris Cleary, Michal Haznar, Lenny Valleye.

Referee: Sam Holt