Taylor runs the big show but Bowen chase sums up Con character

There was character by the truckload in a Cork Con victory that looked highly unlikely when their talismanic second row John Forde was sent off just 19 minutes in.

Cork Constitution captain David Hyland lifts the trophy and celebrates with teammates. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

AIL Division 1 final: Cork Constitution 33 Terenure College 22

CORK Constitution head coach Johnny Holland could have picked out one of the tries his team scored with a man down as the highlight of their defeat of defending champions Terenure College in the Energia All Ireland League Men’s final.

He could also have easily pinpointed the perfect goal-kicking and all-round game management of fly-half James Taylor.

Yet for the second-season head coach, it was his wing Matthew Bowen’s remarkable chase back and last-ditch tackle to hold up opposite number Conor Phillips, when a try could have spelled curtains for them, that epitomised the character of his young team’s successful bid for the club’s first title since 2019.

In truth there was character by the truckload in a Cork Con victory that looked highly unlikely when talismanic second row John Forde was sent off 19 minutes in, and implausible when centre Niall Kenneally was yellow-carded almost 20 minutes later; never mind downright impossible when their second lock, Sean Duffy followed him into the sin-bin to reduce Holland’s side to 12 men for a five-minute period early in the second half.

That Con crowned a resoundingly successful Energia AIL finals double-header by never trailing in a pulsating 80 minutes at the Aviva Stadium yesterday was a testament to that character. And nothing showed it better than 57 minutes in, when they were under the pump, protecting a 23-22 lead and Terenure were threatening run riot.

The ‘Nure backline was beginning to fire and when former Munster wing Phillips slipped his marker down the left, the go-ahead try seemed assured, only for Bowen to nail his tackle and then hold up the ball over the tryline.

It was the last time the 2023 champions would cross the whitewash, Con adding to first-half scores from full-back Rob Hedderman and hooker Billy Scannell, converted by man of the match Taylor.

The title-securing try came eight minutes from time through Scannell’s replacement, Danny Sheahan, the fly-half adding the extras to see Cork Con home by 11 points.

“Mitch, Matthew Bowen on the try line,” Holland said when asked to pinpoint the crucial moment in the victory.

“Unbelievable. Brian Hickey (director of rugby) showed a clip of Rob Jermyn doing it in 2019, and whether that was in the back of his mind or not, he fought as hard as he could for the rest of the team to get back.

“It was one moment that gets you over the line. That was a massive momentum swing because they had just scored. I turned away, to be honest. I just thought ‘This is it.’ But Mitch didn’t give up so easily. That’s the character in the group. That’s a moment from Mitch that shows what the rest of the lads were at.

“When we went down to 12, Mitch was operating in a backline that didn’t have a unit for a lot of that game, so whether he would have had that in his legs was questionable but he found it. Again, it’s a mark of him and the rest of the group.”

For Holland, the club’s seventh title in 13 final appearances was borne of instilling belief in their players. “It’s very satisfying. I’ve been saying it to the lads for a while, and Dave Hyland (the Cork Con captain) has been driving getting Con back on top. You say it so many times that you believe it, but it’s still a massive mountain to climb. We just said ‘Why not us and why not this one?’

“I think the players really responded to that, and they drove it to themselves. It’s the best group I have worked with. I felt that, they absorbed everything, they are very coachable, not overly agreeable but agreeable, but it just felt like we were all going in the right direction.

“There was a certain feel about it. Even today, the last thing I said to them before they went out, ‘Don’t be thinking we are lucky to get here, go and convert it because we belong here.’ And we did.”

TERENURE COLLEGE: A La Grue; C Phillips, S Berman, P Sylvester, C Adams; A Egan, A Bennie; C Classon (B Howard, 62), L Vaughan, A Tuite (C O’Donnell 31); H Brewer – captain, M Caffrey (M O’Reilly, 52); A Melia, L Clohessy (J White, 27), J Coghlan.

Replacements not used: M Russell, C McKeon, Y Fernandez Vilar, B Galvin.

CORK CONSTITUTION: R Hedderman (R Jermyn, 56); D Hurley, H O’Riordan, N Kenneally, M Bowen; J Taylor, A Maher (L Khan, 65); A Heaney (B Quinlan 56-75), B Scannell (D Sheahan, 56), L Masters (C Connolly, 56); S Duffy (E Quilter, 36-40; Lamarque D’Arruzat, 56), J Forde; J Kelleher, R O’Sullivan (E Quilter, 56), D Hyland – captain.

Yellow card: N Kenneally 39-49, S Duffy 44-54. Red card: J Forde 19mins.

Referee: Andrew Cole (IRFU).