James Taylor credits 'phenomenal' workrate from Cork Con

The 25-year-old has the booked time off work this week as he celebrates Cork Con's AIL final victory over defending champions Terenure College.

Tue, 30 Apr, 2024 - 06:00

Simon Lewis

James Taylor appears to be as well organised off the pitch as he is on it judging by the Cork Constitution fly-half’s preparations for a celebratory week away from the day job.

"I've pretty much the week booked off work. I'll use that as best I can," the 25-year-old , on the graduate programme at Deloitte, said following a man of the match performance in 14-man Cork Con’s dramatic 33-22 Energia AIL Men’s final victory over defending champions Terenure College.

Taylor had steered the ship through troubled waters for more than an hour following the 19th-minute sending off of second row John Forde. The former CBC Cork, UCC and Highfield player backed up astute game management with a clinical goal-kicking display, nailing all three of his try conversions and adding four penalties as Cork Con not only survived the subsequent sin-binnings of centre Niall Kenneally and the other starting lock in Sean Duffy, which at one point early in the second half reduced them to 12 men for five minutes but extended their lead. Indeed, it was Taylor’s application of scoreboard pressure which increased Terenure’s discomfort in chasing a contest that should have been theirs for the taking as Con thrived.

When Forde was dismissed, Con had been leading 10-0 through a Rob Hedderman try and five points from Taylor’s boot. With a man down, then two and for that short period three, they edged Terenure 23-22.

Little wonder the fly-half described claiming the 2024 title, Con’s seventh and first since 2019, as “the highest” ranking moment of his playing career.

“Aw, just pure elation. It was an incredibly long, tough season, but to get over the line, given the circumstance going down to 12 as well, was something special.

“To win it was always my goal playing senior rugby. The majority of us are amateurs, and this is the pinnacle of our playing. It certainly tops the lot.”

Taylor’s goal-kicking consistency throughout the campaign, his 18 points at Aviva Stadium taking him to 176 for the season, despite missing a four-game chunk of the campaign to injury, has led to questions of a potential career in the professional ranks, something the former Munster under-age representative has been reticent in the past to pursue.

He insisted his attitude has not been swayed by Sunday’s triumph.

“No, I don’t think that makes me want to go down that route any more or less than I already do. I’m just going to savour this now for the next couple of weeks hopefully and rebuild then for the following year.”

Taylor, who joined Con from city rivals Highfield last summer, was clearly not disrupted by his mid-season injury, also kicking seven from seven from the tee in the semi-final victory over Clontarf at Temple Hill eight days earlier. He also praised his backline partners on either side of him, scrum-half Adam Maher and inside centre Niall Kenneally for their “constant yapping” yet did admit to fitness issues on his return to action.

"It's relatively easy to transition back, I think. The biggest thing was probably my fitness. I missed four games over a six or seven-week span, I've had issues with my calves, cramping a bit in the last couple of games and it was the same today. So probably just the fitness getting back into the swing of things.

"It probably started on the 60th minute, I'd say, and it pretty much lasted until I came off with a couple of minutes to go."

Defending short-handed against a powerhouse Terenure side will also have had an impact, but Taylor, like his head coach Holland, pinpointed the team’s work-rate and in particular wing Matthew Bowen’s chase back and try-saving tackle on former Munster wing Conor Phillips at a critical point in the second half.

"I think the 12 of us who were on the pitch at that time just had to really dig deep. There was acres of space for a Terenure to attack and to be fair, they did. They spread the ball as much as they could but our catch-up defence was top-notch, I must say.

"Like it was epitomised by Mitch, Matthew Bowen, his try-saving tackle. That was a huge momentum shift. We were one point ahead and if they score that, we're down to however many we were at the time, it would be a long way back from that.

"So, everyone's work rate was phenomenal."

Hopes within Cork Con are that this is a young team under director of rugby Brian Hickey and second-season head coach Johnny Holland that can now kick on to further titles and Taylor does not disagree.

“Absolutely… the majority of the lads are 22 or 23 years old.

“For long periods of the season, myself and Sean Duffy were the oldest on the team at 25. For a team like Con to have that age-grade on the senior team bodes well for next year as well.”