Massive win for Wicklow
Victory relieves pressure
WICKLOW’S Senior men faced into a crucial home game against Seapoint knowing a win would lift them back into midtable and a loss would see them firmly rooted to the bottom of the league.
An horrendous injury list has contributed to what has been stuttering start to the season and Wicklow knew they had to turn things around with a win of any kind.
This was always going to be a close fought and nervy encounter as both teams were desperate to prevent being dragged into a relegation battle.
The game was played on a damp breezy day. Seapoint had the wind at their backs for the first half but it was Wicklow who started the stronger and played most of the rugby in the first half.
We dominated posession in the early stages but found it very difficult to break down a resolute Seapoint defence.
The scores were level at 0-0 after half an hour when Seapoint made the breakthrough with a penalty to give them a 0-3 lead against the run of play.
Wicklow continued to press but lacked patience at times and tried to play too much rugby given the greasy conditions which led to a number of attacking chancing going awry.
Wicklow turned around in the second half with the wind at their backs.
They got off to a strong start and a kicked an early penalty to the corner.
A superb catch and drive from the resultant lineout saw Mikey Doyle power over after a series of pick and drives. The conversion was missed but Wicklow were in front 5-3 after 50 minutes.
Seapoint responded well and soon had Wicklow under pressure when they kicked a penalty into the corner.
It was Wicklow’s turn to defend the catch and drive. They repelled the initial onslaught and the ball was moved wide.
The Seapoint winger looked certain to score but a brilliant last ditch tackle from Ben Porter saved the day. Wicklow cleared down fireld from the resultant line out and the seige was lifted.
On the seventy minute mark a brilliant break by the returning Niall Earls looked to be about to break down when he produced a brilliant reverse pass to the onrushing Billy Ngawini.
The elusive centre danced past three hapless defenders and scored between the posts for a superb try. Earls added the extras and Wicklow led 12-3.
Try as they might Seapoint could not make any inroads into the Wicklow lead and the home side held on comfortably until the final whistle went.
Wicklow were relieved to get the win. It lifted Jack McKenna’s side from the bottom of the table to withing striking distance of the top three. It also denied Seapoint a losing bonus point which they felt they probably deserved in a tight game.
Importantly the Seconds had a good win as well. Played in driving rain they trailed 6-7 after hald an hour.
With 15 minutes left a Ben Armstrong penalty put Wicklow 9-7 in front.
Seapoint kicked a penalty to make it 9-10 with ten minutes remaining.
In injury time Wicklow had a lineout 10 metres from the Seapoint line.
They managed to lose the lineout but in the ensuing melee Luke Boyce did brilliantly to block down a clearance kick and score the crucial try.
The conversion was missed but Wicklow held on to win 14-10.
Seapoint probably felt hard done by in this one but it was another important win for this squad.
Wicklow firsts: Neil Dickenson, Jack McKenna, Eddie Downes, Liam Gaffney, George Naoupu, Andrew Doyle, Wes Wojnar, Michael Doyle, Mark Higgins, Niall Earls, Alex Porter, Billy Ngawini, Shane Farrar, Ben Porter Adam Quinn. Seamus O’Brien, Hugo Wojnar, John Jenkinson, Stephen Swan Cormac Fenton.
Wicklow seconds: Stephen Swan, Dean Franey, Mark Cullen, Andy O’Boyle, Sam Porter, Tom Maguire, Conor Vize, Bylan Byrne, Darren Byrne, Dennis Higgins, Craig Waldron, Neil Kearney, Ronan Doyle, Ben Armstrong, Allen Byrne, Aidan Kearney, James McCall, Dean Soady, Conor Lincoln, Luke Boyce.