Enniscorthy move to second with fine away win

ENNISCORTHY DEFEATED the current Leinster League Division 1A champions Ashbourne away on Saturday and moved up to second in the table as a result.

Playing into the breeze in the first-half, they got off to a flying start when flanker Tom Ryan broke from a maul five metres out and barged over under the posts.

With the conversion by out-half Ivan Poole, they were seven points up after five minutes.

Better was to come 15 minutes later as Enniscorthy piled on the pressure.

They spread the ball wide, and a slick pass from centre Daniel Pim opened a gap for full-back Richard Dunne.

He released to wing David O’Dwyer who dived over in the left corner.

This was the last score of the first-half and left it 12-0 at the interval.

Playing with the breeze in the second-half, it looked like the Wexford men would run out easy winners, but this was not the case as Ashbourne provided stiff opposition through their pack.

Ivan Poole kicked an early penalty to increase the lead.

Ashbourne came more into the game and scored a try off a rolling maul after 50 minutes.

This was to be their last score, though, as the visitors finished in impressive fashion to suggest they will be a strong force this season.

Enniscorthy had soaked up much of the pressure and played the last 30 minutes on their own terms deep in Ashbourne territory.

Eventually Enniscorthy’s pressure began to force a series of mistakes from the home defence.

Their No. 8 was red-carded for a foul hit on centre Killian Lett.

The visitors spurned a number of penalty chances in search of more tries. Simple unforced errors were letting them down.

It wasn’t until their final attack that replacement scrum-half Arthur Dunne sliced through the defence to score under the posts. Killian Lett converted on the final whistle.

Enniscorthy will be very happy with this result although with their dominance they should have scored more.

They now have two weeks to prepare for their next game against Bective Rangers at their Ross Road venue.

Enniscorthy: Angelo Todisco, David Murphy, Paddy Waters, Tomás Stamp Joe Carley, Brian Bolger, Tom Ryan (capt.), Timmy Morrissey, Alan Jacob, Ivan Poole, David O’Dwyer, Killian Lett, Daniel Pim, Ivan Jacob, Richard Dunne. Subs. - Arthur Dunne for Poole (65), Murt Kehoe for Todisco (25-40), Michael Farrell, Jamie Barron, Andrew Redmond.