Ng a big battle
off the ball at the crucial moment and with that fumble Gorey’s 14-point advantage remained.
Eastwood made two changes in the pack at the interval in the hope of turning things around, but Horan’s second penalty of the day arose after a sin-binning for one of Boyne’s transgressors.
Gorey soon had a man in the sin-bin themselves following a brief altercation, but the hosts were returned to their full complement of players by the time Paul O’Connor crashed over for their third try from about two metres out on 68 minutes, with Horan maintaining his 100% accuracy from the subsequent conversion.
In the latter stages Gorey might have been expected to push on for a bonus point, but instead it was Boyne who threw everything at them in the hopes of salvaging some pride, if nothing else.
Gorey’s number 8 did receive a red car near the end for an off-theball hit on Duffy, but they continued to defend as if their lives depended on it and in the end comfortably secured their fourth win of the campaign to draw level on points with Boyne.
The visitors can take a small amount of satisfaction from denying Gorey that extra point and in a very tight battle to avoid the relegation play-off spot that might yet prove important.
GOREY: Stephen Horan; Rob Harrington, Paul O’Connor, James Nolan, David Shannon; Stephen Duke, Gareth Bater; Dylan Gregan (Willie Rothwell 69), Barry O’Connor (David Walsh 74), Darragh Bellanova; Tom Jameson, Stephen Gardiner; Fergal Bolger, Jordan Aherne, Killian Breen. BOYNE: Eoghan Duffy; Brian Howell (Joe Sweeney 54), Adam Brodigan, Alex Gregory, Kevin McCleery; Tom Francis, Alex Cox; Paul Shuttleworth (Jerry Onianwa 65), Padraig Mongey (George Cooney 41), Hugh Carolan; Conor Walsh (Richard Shuttleworth 41), Deccie Moore; Rory Hennessy, Wilson Twentyman, Karl Keogh. Replacement not used: Kevin Prendergast.
LEINSTER DIV 1A
Ashbourne Enniscorthy Dundalk De La Salle P Gorey Boyne Wicklow Monkstown P 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 W 7 7 6 4 4 4 3 1 L 2 2 3 5 5 5 6 8 D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SD 66 119 53 -46 8 -56 -1 -143 BP 7 4 6 4 3 3 6 1 Pts 35 32 30 21 19 19 18 5