Relentless drive towards title success maintained
ENNISCORTHY CONTINUED their relentless drive towards winning the Leinster League Division 1A with a 40-8 victory over Ashbourne at Ross Road on Saturday.
As ever it was a performance mixed with good and bad, but when they eventually clicked in the second-half the scores came like a flood.
Second row forward Liam Stamp received a straight red card after a shoulder charge in the 30th minute which made the mountain a little more difficult to climb, and they also lost Timmy Morrissey who retired with an ankle injury five minutes later.
It was a tight opening to the game and there was 20 minutes on the clock when the first score came. After a succession of picks and drives, Nick Doyle set up the ball for scrum-half Arthur Dunne who had Danny Pim running into space, and he fed Ivan Poole who produced one of his trademark long passes to Ivan Jacob who scored in the corner. The conversion was missed, so it stayed at 5-0.
Ivan Poole stretched the lead with two penalty kicks, and Ashbourne out-half Donal Crotty responded with the boot to leave it 11-3 at half-time.
Poole increased the lead with a penalty in front of the posts after Ashbourne had strayed offside.
Ashbourne stared to exert a lot of pressure on the Enniscorthy line and, from a scrum under the posts, Casey Dunne galloped in to score a try (14-8), with the conversion attempt missed.
Enniscorthy eventually regrouped and, from a scrum on the ’22 at the clubhouse side, Killian Lett almost got across the line. From the resulting re-set, Brian Bolger scored and an easy conversion for Poole put the home side now firmly in the driving seat.
It appeared that Ivan Jacob scored again after a kick ahead from Tom Ryan, but they did register the fourth try when Ivan Poole grabbed the drop-off and ran through the Ashbourne cover easier than a knife through butter. He added the conversion and sealed the result to make it 28-8 with ten minutes remaining.
They were not finished as David O’Dwyer’s strong run put his name on the scoresheet.
Ashbourne made a rare visit into the Enniscorthy half but they spilled the ball, and Angelo Todisco kicked ahead.
Full-back Richard Dunne was following up and ran 40 metres unchallenged in under the posts, with Killian Lett adding the conversion for a fine win after a terrific final 20 minutes when the visitors were blown away.
It was another fine team performance considering they played 50 minutes with 14 men, with flanker Brian Bolger named man of the match.
The next match is away to Bective Rangers on Saturday, January 12, at 2.30 p.m.
Top four after ten rounds: Enniscorthy, 43 points; Gorey, 33; Wicklow, 32; Bective Rangers, 23.
Team: Paddy Waters (James Doyle, 70), David Murphy, Angelo Todisco, Liam Stamp (red card, 30), Tom Ryan (capt.), Timmy Morrissey (Luke Cummins, 35), Nick Doyle, Arthur Dunne (Billy Wickham, 70), Ivan Poole (Jack Kelly, 70), David O’Dwyer, Killian Lett, Daniel Pim, Ivan Jacob, Richard Dunne.
Scorers: Ivan Poole (try, three penalties, two conversions); Ivan Jacob, David O’Dwyer, Richard Dunne, Brian Bolger (tries); Killian Lett (conversion).