Conn’s the hero with late winner
ENNISCORTHY NAVAN 19 17
THE ENNISCORTHY J1 team faced a tough assignment at Alcast Park with the visit of a Navan team fresh from beating current table-toppers, Terenure.
Enniscorthy had numerous injuries but the 20 players who took to the field throughout really stepped up and performed.
Enniscorthy played against the wind in the first-half and, although dominating the ball and territory, they could not find a way across the Navan line.
Just before half-time, Enniscorthy gave away a needless penalty on their ten-metre line which Navan
kicked to give them the lead.
Coming out in the second period with 14 men as a result of the late first-half penalty, Enniscorthy knew they would have to make possession count if they were going to win this game.
Early pressure left Enniscorthy camped in the Navan ‘22 and, on 50 minutes, fresh from his ten-minute rest in the sin-bin, Jamie Barron handed off two Navan defenders and burst through under the posts.
Jack Kelly converted this, giving Enniscorthy a 7-3 lead.
Directly from the kick-off, Enniscorthy launched another attack and a Jack Kelly dummy sent the Navan defence awry to allow him to jog in under the posts, and convert his own try.
At 14-3 with 25 minutes to go, Enniscorthy were surely thinking about going after the bonus point.
However, as a result of some lapses of concentration and missed tackles, a determined Navan team scored two tries to lead 17-14 with three minutes to go.
It wouldn’t be this team if they didn’t make things hard on themselves but, to be fair, they didn’t panic.
Twenty-four phases of rugby ensued, with Enniscorthy keeping the ball and spreading the Navan defence all over the pitch.
This allowed for 19-year-old Conn Kavanagh-Morris to demand the ball out wide.
Once he got his hands on it,
Conn took a great line, beating two Navan defenders and touching down over the line for the game-winning try with the last play.
Enniscorthy missed the conversion but had secured the win on a 19-17 scoreline.
It was, for once, a small margin result that this young team came out on the right side of. Hopefully now it’s the first of many more to come.
Team: Andy Redmond, Jamie Barron, John Nolan, Steven Hadley, Liam Stamp, Ryan Cahill, Lee Treacy (capt.), Niall Parker, Conn Kavanagh-Morris, Jack Kelly, Cathal Spratt, Michael Farrell, Evan Kelly, Cian Wickham, David Shore, Conal Kavanagh, Pat Doyle, Gavin Redmond, Jack Freeman, Adam Gethings.