Jonny Holland hails ‘cool customer’ James Taylor as Cork Constitution secure AIL title
Men’s AIL final: Terenure College 22 Cork Constitution 33
Cork Constitution captain David Hyland lifts the trophy and celebrates with his team-mates after their side's victory in the Energia All-Ireland League Men's Division 1A final against Terenure College. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
With 56 minutes on the clock, Terenure flyer Conor Phillips looked as though he had a clear run to the line to put his side in front for the first time, until his opposite number Matthew Bowen ate up the ground and stopped a certain try.
It was a stunning piece of defending by Bowen, who managed to hold up the former Munster winger over the line.
As Jonny Holland watched Phillips take the ball at full tilt, the Con head coach immediately thought: ‘This is it.’
Finals are won and lost on such fine margins, and for Con, this was a game-defining moment that ultimately helped them dethrone the Energia All-Ireland League champions in another great advertisement for Irish club rugby.
“Unbelievable,” Holland said of Bowen’s crucial intervention. “Brian Hickey showed a clip of Rob Jermyn doing it in 2019.
“Whether that was in the back of his mind or not, Mitch 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.
“When we went down to 12, Mitch was operating in a back-line 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.”
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Bowen’s moment of magic typified Con’s doggedness, as they had to overcome a 19th-minute red card to lock John Forde, as well as two yellows later on.
Such disciplinary issues would have derailed most teams, but Con, led by their nerveless out-half James Taylor, who scored 18 points in a flawless kicking display, ensured that Terenure didn’t win back-to-back titles.
Holland, a former Munster out-half, was full of praise for how Taylor handled the occasion in front of a crowd of 7,768 at the Aviva Stadium.
“Clinical, clinical. He’d been fighting cramp half the time and his injury didn’t do him any favours because he was out for the guts of six or eight weeks,” Holland explained.
“He’s just cool up top, he’s a cool customer, obviously well able to play ball. We didn’t even see the most of his ball skills today, but that’s what happens in finals, they take on a life of their own.
“Small things like converting your tries, converting your penalties.
“It’s a psychological blow to the opposition if they know you are going to get maximum points every time. He’s the fulcrum of that.”
Terenure head coach Seán Skehan was gracious in defeat as he too hailed Taylor’s significant contribution in this AIL final.
“We just couldn’t generate any momentum and to be fair to JT [James Taylor], what an astute signing,” Skehan acknowledged.
“He just keeps the scoreboard ticking, like Caolan [Dooley] last year – and that obviously has a big implication in what you’re going to do under the sticks.
“They probably learned from our final last year. To be fair to James, what a clutch kicker, and then their pack was just ferocious.”
Con’s seventh title means they move to within two of Shannon’s record, and while the Temple Hill celebrations will doubtless go on long into the week, attention will soon turn to catching the Limerick club.
“You can’t leave it on one, but you see how hard it is to go back to back,” Holland added.
“The one big regret I’ve had is Covid because we were 14 [wins] in a row on our back to back, so we got robbed in our attempt at that. But we got to a final with a hungry group against you.
“Everybody’s been trying to catch Shannon, but do you know what, it’s their own fresh group.
“Yeah, they’re young enough to go on and get a couple, but Niall [Kenneally] said it, you don’t always get another one, so we’re glad we took this one.
“We’ll see what happens next August.”
Terenure College: A La Grue; C Adams, S Berman, P Sylvester, C Phillips; A Egan, A Bennie; C Classon (B Howard 62-76)), L Vaughan, A Tuite (C O’Donnell 37-62); H Brewer (capt), M Caffrey (M O’Reilly 52); A Melia, L Clohessy (J White 27), J Coghlan.
Cork Constitution: R Hedderman (R Jermyn 56); D Hurley, H O’Riordan, N Kenneally (B Crowley 49), 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, 37-41) (M Lamarque d’Arrouzat 56), J Forde; J Kelleher, R O’Sullivan (Quilter 56), D Hyland (capt).
Ref: A Cole (IRFU).
