GOREY RUGBY
The Gorey Under-17s welcomed Ardee to Clonattin on Saturday for their Leinster Culliton Cup quarter-final. After the torrential overnight rain, Gorey’s pitches were in remarkably good condition and thankfully the rain had abated overnight.
Gorey came into the game off the back of two convincing wins over Navan and Tullow in the first two rounds, while Ardee had beaten West Offaly in their last game, having secured a bye in the first round.
The visitors started the stronger, driving Gorey back into their own ’22, where they had to defend well to stop Ardee from breaking the line. But Gorey’s discipline was good and each man defended very well.
Against the run of play Gorey managed to gather the ball and caught Ardee on the hop as captain Seán Wafer made a break and ran all the way to score in the corner. A great conversion by Oisín Fortune gave the home side the lead (7-0) after just ten minutes.
After this it was all Gorey as five minutes later they showed great handling skills, with Henry Kennedy gathering a difficult high ball from an Ardee kick and making good ground before off-loading to Greg Bolger who in turn fed Mark Boyle for a superb try (14-0).
Gorey were now well in control and the centre partnership of Mark Boyle and Seán Wafer were causing real problems for the visitors. Boyle kicked a beautiful chip over the Ardee defensive line, which Wafer chased and gathered for his second try, leaving Gorey 21-0 up with just 18 minutes on the clock.
To Ardee’s credit they continued to try hard but they were finding it difficult to deal with Gorey’s commitment to the tackle in every area of the pitch. The front row of Niall Kenny, Toby Falconer and Jack Ryan made some fine tackles and turned over a number of rucks.
On the half-hour mark, Gorey second-rower Cian Kenny made a good run before passing out wide to speedy winger Flynn Donnelly who evaded several tackles before touching down in the corner. Oisín Fortune, who had already converted three from three, stunned the crowd with a superb conversion in a swirling wind to put Gorey 28-0 ahead.
Gorey centre Mark Boyle continued to cause problems for Ardee and he made a super run right down the middle before timing his pass perfectly to Henry Kennedy who scored under the posts.
Frank Kavanagh made some crunching tackles at key moments, and flanker Dylan Sawyer let no man pass him as he proved as solid as ever.
Ardee made every effort to get themselves on the scoreboard before the half-time whistle and Gorey were forced to defend on their line for the remaining minutes, including ten minutes of additional time due to a sequence of penalties against them.
However, despite their best efforts, Ardee were unable to break Gorey’s strong defence and the ball finally broke to winger Flynn Donnelly who ran the length of the pitch to score his second, and Gorey’s sixth, try (42-0).
The second-half kicked off with Gorey having the benefit of the light wind. They began where they’d left off, playing with great confidence. Both their scrum and line-outs were operating well and they defended like their lives depended on it.
It wasn’t long before they were threatening the Ardee line once again, and once Seán Wafer got his hands on the ball he was headed for route one, side-stepping a couple of defenders on his way to his third try.
Wafer’s centre partner wasn’t to be outdone, as just ten minutes later he got a well-deserved second try to top off a great performance.
It was all Gorey now as their second row Tadhg O’Neill looked to have scored a perfectly good try, but it was judged to have been held up.
But from the resulting five-metre scrum, Flynn Donnelly left no doubt as he planted the ball firmly between the posts.
The game finished with Seán Wafer catching a high ball and running the length of the pitch to score a final try, which Oisín Wafer converted to maintain his one hundred per cent record. The final score was 70-0.
The scoreline will definitely send a message to the remaining teams in this competition and, although the ten tries scored were shared amongst just four players, this was truly a team performance with every man from 1 to 23 putting in a great display.
Gorey now face the prospect of three semi-finals, in the Leinster Cup, Leinster Premier League and the South East League.
Gorey: Jack Ryan, Toby Falconer, Niall Kenny, Cian Kenny, Tadhg O’Neill, Dylan Sawyer, Alex Rothwell, Frank Kavanagh, Cillian Tomkins, Henry Kinsella, Greg Bolger, Mark Boyle, Seán Wafer (capt.), Flynn Donnelly, Oisín Fortune. Subs. - Kyle Donnelly, Robert Murphy, Ryan Gibney, Adam Byrne, Donough McGivern, Mark Doyle, Ryan Kinsella, Joe Butler.
Mullingar were the visitors to Clonattin on Saturday for a Leinster Under-14 Cup quarter-final. The lads had a good start and didn’t let their visitors settle in to the game.
Tries were scored by Brian Cushe, George Hadden, Jack Higgins, Cillian Byrne and Michael Kruczek, with conversions kicked by Lee Cushe, Shamey O’Hagan and George Hadden.
Good performances were produced across the team, especially from Seán Sawyer, Brian Cushe, Jack Curley and man of the match Michal Kruczek who had a fine game in both defence and attack.
It was great to see Shamey O’Hagan back following a long layoff due to injury, and we hope to see Ewan Stephens back quickly too. Happy birthday to our catering boss Aisling Fitzpatrick also!
Team: J. Curley, D. Fitzpatrick, E. Byrne, R. Tubritt, S. Guilfoyle, S. Sawyer, E. McCrea, G. Hadden, J. Higgins, L. Cushe, T. Baxter, M. Kruczek, R. O’Loughlin, B. Cushe, C. Byrne, A. McNeill, A. Cleary, S. O’Hagan, J. Milne, R. Arnold, C. Byrne, R. Cleary, S. Campbell-Carty, J. Wizner.