Ryan’s strong carries guide Gorey home
AFTER A two-week break, the Gorey Under-18s travelled to County Louth to continue their Leinster League campaign with a crucial game against Boyne.
This was an important game for both sides as they were in joint second place on eight points and Gorey had a game in hand.
It looked likely to be a game for the forwards as the rain spilled throughout the previous 24 hours and continued throughout.
Gorey started the stronger, pinning Boyne back in their own ‘22 and forcing a couple of penalties from the home side within the first 15 minutes, which the ever-reliable Oisín Fortune slotted over to leave the visitors leading 6-0.
The penalty count continued to mount for Boyne as Gorey piled on the pressure, eventually resulting in the referee producing a yellow card for persistent offside.
Shortly afterwards, Gorey worked a strong maul off their dependable line-out and marched steadfastly towards the Boyne line, where prop Jack Ryan scored the opening try.
It was all one-way traffic at this stage as Gorey continued to threaten the Boyne line. Out-half Cathal Stokes directed matters expertly and kicked beautifully out of his hand to give Gorey commanding positions in the opposition territory.
The centre partnership of Adam Byrne and Seán Wafer split the Boyne defensive line on several occasions, and it wasn’t long before Jack Ryan carried again to off-load to number 8 Mark Boyle, who got over for Gorey’s second try after 22 minutes to leave the score 16-0.
But Boyne were a big, physical side and Gorey had to defend strong runs on several occasions as the home team tried to fight back. Some great tackling, in particular from Joe Butler and Oran Fitzpatrick, stifled any advances.
Adam Byrne’s hard running was rewarded on the half-hour mark as he burst over for a try, which Oisín Fortune converted to put the visitors 23 points ahead.
As the clock ticked towards the half-time whistle, Boyne’s troubles continued when they fumbled an attempted clearance from their in-goal area, which the alert Cathal Stokes pounced on to give Gorey their fourth try.
Perhaps Gorey switched off in anticipation of the referee’s half-time whistle, as Boyne turned over a ruck, which Gorey failed to protect, and the home side slipped through for a relatively easy try and their first points. The referee blew for half-time with the score at 28-5.
The second-half began with a rejuvenated Boyne immediately putting Gorey under pressure, and within a matter of minutes they were over again for their second try, after the referee played advantage after Gorey had failed to roll away. The conversion attempt struck the post, but the scoreline was narrowed to 28-10.
Boyne continued to press Gorey and the visitors were back on their heels defending strong runs by the well-organised home side.
Gorey scrum-half Cillian Tomkins put in some crunching tackles on attackers twice his size, but it was only a matter of time before Boyne’s persistence paid off.
Gorey’s Mark Boyle was sent to the bin for not rolling away, and from the resulting penalty Boyne stretched the defence for a well-worked try. They made no mistake of the conversion this time and the scoreline was now 28-17.
But as Boyne continued to put Gorey under pressure, up popped Jack Ryan again with some virtually unstoppable runs and he powered over for a try to ease the pressure for the visitors. Fortune added the extras to leave Gorey leading 35-17.
To Boyne’s credit they kept coming back at Gorey, and two more tries from the home side, plus a conversion, gave them a well-deserved bonus losing point as they finished the game with just a six-point deficit at 35-29.
There were some outstanding performances throughout the team for Gorey, with Joe Butler defending like a Trojan and Seán Wafer making some scintillating runs, but for his strong carries for the entire game, the man of the match goes to Jack Ryan.
Gorey have a busy run-in to Christmas and travel away again next Saturday to take on Skerries.
Gorey: Jack Ryan, Cormac Walsh, Niall Kenny, Joe Butler, Tadhg O’Neill (capt.), Oran Fitzpatrick, Frank Kavanagh, Mark Boyle, Cillian Tomkins, Cathal Stokes, Eoin Canavan, Adam Byrne, Seán Wafer, Andrew Cushen, Oisín Fortune, Carl Johnston, Cian Sullivan, Gonzalo Sanchez.