GOREY RUGBY
Gorey’s Under-17s had home advantage as they welcomed Boyne to Clonattin for their second game in phase two of the Leinster Premier League.
Gorey came into this game after an important win away to Wicklow to leave them joint top of the league with North Kildare. But the visitors started the strongest and Gorey had to withstand enormous pressure from the large Boyne side who pinned them on their own line for the opening phases.
However, Gorey’s strong defence absorbed the pressure and just ten minutes into the game Jack Ryan took on the ball and made a strong run, dragging several Boyne defenders in tow.
He then passed the ball out to Mark Kehoe who dummied his opposing number to make ground before expertly releasing the ball to Seán Wafer who went over for the opening try. Oisín Fortune made sure of the conversion to put Gorey 7-0 in front.
From the re-start, Boyne chased and rucked well, putting Gorey under pressue once again. The referee awarded a penalty to Boyne within kicking distance, but the kick fell just wide of the posts.
Mark Boyle and Mark Kehoe both used their boot to good effect as they drove the ball downfield to relieve the pressure and gain good ground for Gorey on a number of occasions. And when Gorey were awarded a penalty 15 minutes in, it was one of these kicks that gave them a line-out just outside the Boyne 22-metre line.
Gorey won the line-out and fed the ball out to out-half Mark Kehoe, who decided to take it on himself. He made a great run, dancing past several Boyne defenders and narrowly avoiding an ankle-tap before putting the ball down for a try (12-0).
But Boyne were still very strong and it took some tremendous tackles to stop them scoring, with Mark Kehoe and Robert Murphy demonstrating huge commitment to bring down several attacks.
After 20 minutes Gorey began threading some beautiful passes together and they were stretching Boyne’s defence to the limit. From one of these attacks they won a penalty 30 metres out and full-back Oisín Fortune slotted it over to extend the lead to 15-0.
Minutes later another great move released Robert Murphy who managed to break through several tackles to run for the Boyne line, leaving all remaining defenders in his wake. But just as he was a few metres from the line for a certain try, the referee blew his whistle to deal with an off-the-ball fracas involving two players.
This surely let Boyne off the hook for what may have put the game beyond them. From the resultant scrum, back where the incident occurred, Boyne managed to win a penalty, which they kicked for touch.
And from the subsequent line-out they bundled over for a try. The conversion was well taken to bring Boyne back into the game at 15-7.
However, Gorey’s backs were into their swing now and continued to string together passes, which Boyne were struggling to cope with. Which just minutes remaining in the first-half, Boyne were penalised for offside and Mark Boyle kicked a long ball for a lineout, just outside Boyne’s ’22.
Gorey took the ball from the line-out and put together a strong maul, driving Boyne back towards their line. The ball was eventually fed out to Mark Kehoe who kicked delicately over the heads of the defensive line, and it was skilfully collected in the air by Seán Wafer for his second try. Once again, Oisín Fortune made sure of the conversion to finish the half at 22-7.
Gorey kicked off the second-half and chased with a tremendous urgency. Robert Murphy put in another terrific tackle to stop Boyne in their tracks and then some wonderful counter-rucking forced a loose ball, which hooker Toby Falconer dived upon to give possession back to Gorey.
Flanker Darragh Canavan collected the ball from the base of the ruck and had to work hard to break several tackles before grounding the ball for another Gorey try with just a minute of the second-half gone (27-7).
Boyne continued to fight and managed a long kick to give Gorey a lineout just outside their own ’22. Whilst Gorey’s line-out had been working well, on this occasion the referee penalised them for delaying the throw-in and from the Boyne penalty just one missed tackle by Gorey allowed the visitors to record their second try, which they converted (27-14).
The centre partnership of Boyle and Wafer continued to cause headaches for Boyne, and when Mark Boyle dodged several defenders he left their defenders scrambling to get back, but Boyle managed to link up with Wafer and put him in for his third try.
Just five minutes later it was replacement winger Flynn Donnelly’s turn to get his name on the scoresheet, as he chased a kick through to gather the ball and score (39-14).
Gorey were in free flow now and once again Flynn got on to a long ball, which he kicked ahead, and his lightning speed looked sure to guarantee him another score, but he was tripped and Boyne managed to scramble the ball away to safety.
To Boyne’s credit they never gave up and they were rewarded late in the game when they managed to get over for another try to narrow the gap to 39-21.
Gorey: Jack Ryan, Toby Falconer, Niall Kenny, Cian Kenny, Tadhg O’Neill, Darragh Canavan, Dylan Sawyer, Robert Murphy, Mark Doyle, Mark Kehoe, Paddy O’Hagan, Mark Boyle, Seán Wafer, Ryan Kinsella, Oisín Fortune. Subs. - Adam Byrne, Cillian Tomkins, Flynn Donnelly, Frank Kavanagh, Joe Butler, Kyle Donnelly, Henry Kennedy, Ryan Gibney.
Gorey’s Under-17 second team also had a game as they travelled on Friday night to Balbriggan to play their opener in the Leinster League.
Gorey proved too strong for the Dubliners and came out easy winners at 61-28 in an entertaining game.
The first Gorey Under-15 match, in the second phase, took place away to Edenderry. In rugby the small inches make the difference and on this occasion they certainly did!
Gorey started off slowly and paid the price, allowing the home team an easy try early on, but then they woke up and battled back.
Edenderry have a big pack and the lads had to tackle hard and this paid off. After some sterling work, the ball was taken over the whitewash by Donnacha Cooke who managed to score with a host of defenders hanging off him.
The match continued with massive work in the middle of the park between the two packs of forwards. Gorey came out on top, following a ruck, and spun the ball out to Seán O’Hagan on the wing, and he switched on the gas and scored in the corner.
Gorey started the second-half in front 10-7 and Edenderry came at them hard and fast to leave the leaders on the back foot.
The home team broke the defensive line twice in quick succession and scored both times. This could have opened the floodgates but the lads got themselves down the pitch and a pop pass, from the base of a ruck, was collected by Owen Austin who crossed the line.
Gorey were delighted with the turnaround and the game went right to the wire. In the dying minutes Gorey again got over the Edenderry line, but were not awarded the try, leaving the final score 21-15.
The Under-15s left dissatisfied but proud of their resolve.
Team: G. Murray, J.J. O’Neill, P. Doyle, O. Austin (1), K. McLaughlin, J. Tallon (capt.), G. Lande, D. Cooke (1), H. O’Brien, G. Slattery, S. O’Hagan (1), C. Popplewell, J. Colclough, L. Noblett, K. Budeanu. Subs. - S. Doran, O. O’Hagan (used), also S. Timmons, J. Kinsella, T. Montague, S. Millar.
A special mention goes to our outhalf, Seánie Quirke, who was injured in our recent game against Wexford. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
The Gorey Under-14s hosted Boyne in their first round fixture of the Leinster League Premier A.
The lads had a fine performance against Waterpark the previous week, and they brought this good form into this match as they took the game to Boyne from the off.
Once again all eight forwards worked their socks off and the platform they provided gave our backs good ball to work with. The visitors struggled to get out of their own half and eventually the pressure paid off with tries being scored by Tadhg Baxter, Rory Tubritt and George Hadden.
Boyne hammered at the Gorey line as the first-half came to an end but strong Gorey defence kept them out.
Boyne came back into the game in the second-half and now it was Gorey who struggled to get out of their own half bar the odd break which included two fine individual tries from George Hadden and Tadhg Baxter.
A great try-saving tackle from Michal Kruczek ensured a clean sheet and, as the game drew to a close, Evan Byrne crashed over for a try to cap a man of the match performance.
Aside from the six tries, the remaining points came from three conversions kicked by Lee Cushe.
Team: S. Guilfoyle, D. Fitzpatrick, E. Byrne, E. McCrea, R. Tubritt, G. Hadden, C. Byrne, E. Stephens, J. Higgins, L. Cushe, T. Baxter, J. Milne, M. Kruczek, B. Cushe, R. O’Loughlin, A. McNeill, J. Curley, A. Cleary, R. Arnold, S. Sawyer, C. Byrne, R. Cleary, S. Campbell-Carty, P. Kinsella, J. Wizner.