Gorey 47 V Clane 20

Gorey travelled to Clane in Co Kildare on Sunday last and considering their respective league positions there was always only going to be one outcome. Gorey top this league with 22pts, Railway Union, North Kildare and Carlow all in hot persuit, with only 5pts separating first and fourth. Clane who are firmly rooted to the bottom of the league without any points at all, were always going to find this encounter an up hill battle. It has to be said in Clane's favour that they keep fielding a team every week and deserve great credit that they do so, they can only improve with the more games they play.

So first versus last and as the table positions suggests it should have been a one sided affair, but that was not the case. Clane were first to score when they were awarded a penalty for going over the top and they took their points. From here on Gorey had to work very hard for every point they got as it was a battle of the packs and it took them time to get settled and start to run in hard fought tries. Nevil Copeland was first on the board followed by Ben Horan, JP Redmond, John Condern and Willie Kearney,  Stephen Dukes converted four of them to leave the score 33pts to 3pts at halftime.

Clane returned from the half time break with gusto and scored two tries of their own converting one to bring the scores to 33pts to 15pts. Gorey regrouped and it was Willie Kearney once again who got over the try line followed by Sean Byrne who went in under the posts to bring the scores to 47pts to 15pts, after Stephen Dukes converted both tries.

But it was Clane who had the last say as soon after they were camped on Gorey's try line for quite a while before Gorey's defence eventually had to give way to a try to leave the final score 47pts to 20pts. It has to be said it was not one of the prettiest games to watch and from Gorey's point of view it was a dog fight to play. There was plenty of talking points during this match and many off the ball incidences which the referee found it hard to get control of, but the league table will not say this it will just tell the points that were awarded and Gorey came away from Clane with full points (bonus points included).

Next week sees a break in the league campaign, so the J1's next match will be away to North Kildare on Sunday 1st of December at 2.30pm

Team:  1. Willie Kearney 2. Barry O'Connor 3. Ciaran Allen 4. Jason Emery 5. Adrian Copeland 6. Jordan Ahern  7. Ben Horan 8. Paul Redmond 9.Robert Harrington 10.Aidan O'Brien 11. John Condren 12.Stephen Duke 13. James Nolan 14. Darren Dunne 15. Neville Copeland 16. Sean Byrne 17. Fergal Bolger 18.Dean Redmond 19.Clinton Furney 20.Colin French.