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GOREY U13s WIN FIRST ROUND OF LEINSTER TOWNS CUP (McGowans Cup)

Gorey Under 13s made the long journey to Dundalk on a bright cold Saturday morning to play their first round game in the Leinster Towns Cup (McGowans Cup) on the back of great performances in their last two matches.

Gorey kicked off and immediately went on the attack keeping constant pressure on the Dundalk line.

Gorey dominated the opening phases and were camped on the Dundalk 22 for the majority of the first 15 minutes and were unlucky not to come away with any points for all their good work.

However, their determination was to finally pay off, as the pressure was too great for Dundalk bear and in the 16th minute Jack Ryan went over for the first try. Henry Kennedy narrowly missed the conversion.

Gorey continued to dominate the game for the remainder of the half, with great work by Josh Doyle and Dylan Sawyer, but didn't manage to convert this dominance into points and the half ended with Gorey ahead 5 - 0.

Gorey may have felt unlucky not to be going into the second half with a greater lead and felt sure that this strong Dundalk side would come back at them hard in the second half.

They didn't have to wait long for this to happen, as Dundalk came at them from the kick-off and within a minute had broken the Gorey line will a well worked try from their back line. The conversion was missed bringing the level game at 5 - 5.

But Gorey dug deep and weren't about to let all of their hard work be undone. It only took them 3 minutes to reply when Jack Ryan got over again for what looked like his second try of the day, but it was judged to have been held-up.

Gorey kept the pressure on from their pack, in particular from Toby Falconer, Tadhg O'Neill allowing James Lawlor to get over for a super try.

But this second-half was a much more even affair than the first and Dundalk continued to pile on the pressure. Dundalk's perseverence was rightly rewarded in the 8th minute of the half with another outstanding try, again bringing the score level at 10 - 10

Gorey now knew they had to battle hard if they were to progress to the next round of this competition and every player gave 100%, with Greg Bolger, Mark Kehoe and Henry Kennedy combining well to make good ground. Niall Murphy kicked clever ball to relieve some of the pressure and Gorey worked their way steadily toward the Dundalk try line. Replacements Sean Newens and Cormac Walsh put pressure on the Dundalk defence, which finally resulted in Ryan Gibney bursting through for Gorey's third try of the day.

Dundalk never gave up and this try seemed to sting them into action and the Gorey line was tested for the remainder of the game. Wave after wave of Dundalk attacks were repulsed with Gorey finally getting a penalty in the last 2 minutes allowing the team to kick for territory.

Gorey won the lineout and retained possession until the final whisle.

Final score Gorey 15 : Dundalk 10

Special mention must go to Cillian Tomkins as scrum half and while it was very difficult to pick one player out from this great team performance, the Man of the Match award deservedly went to Josh Doyle who had a fantastic game and continues to go from strength to strength this season.

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GOREY:-

Jack Ryan

Josh Doyle

Greg Bolger

Toby Falconer

Ryan Gibney

Frank Kavanagh

Mark Kehoe

Henry Kennedy

Cian Sullivan

Cillian Tompkins