Gorey’s U20s through to Semi Final of Harry Gale Cup

12^th April 2014

Gorey RFC’s Under 20s faced Enniscorthy away on Saturday in the Harry Gale Cup.

This was an eagerly awaited contest as neither club had entered a team at this age group previuiusly, having only met at U19s or Senior team level in the past. As a result both clubs assembled the best group of players from both their U19s and Senior panels, most of whom were unfamiliar with playing together as a team.

Uncharacteristic sunshine made conditions very pleasant for both sets of supporters, but made the playing surface very hard for the players.

Enniscorthy caught Gorey off-guard from the opening whistle and their winger received the ball and ran through Gorey’s defensive line to score a try within one minute of the kick-off. The conversion was missed, but this still left Gorey looking at a scoreboard of 0 - 5 after just a couple of minutes into the game.

From the restart Gorey immediately began to dominate their opponents with lightning fast backs’ play spreading the ball from wing to wing.

It wasn’t long before Gorey were rewarded when Seán O’Connor ran a dazzling line to get over for a try on the 20-minute mark, which was converted by James Nolan to leave the score; Enniscorthy 5  - Gorey 7.

Gorey continued to pin Enniscorthy back in the own 22 and were unlucky not to be awarded a second try, after they got over the whitewash but the referee was unsighted and unable able to confirm if the ball was properly grounded.

Stephen Duke came on for Rory O’Toole after 25 minutes and he only took a couple of minutes to make his presence known with an exquisite grubber into the left-hand corner, which Donnchadh Carroll pounced on to get Gorey’s second try. The acute angle for the conversion along with the wind prevented a conversion and Gorey were now leading by 10 points; Enniscorthy 5  -  Gorey 15.

Enniscorthy fought back courageously but Gorey’s defence was resolute and they repelled all of Enniscorthy’s efforts.

The referee blew his whistle for half time and a well-earned albeit brief respite for both teams, who had given everything in the first half in very hot conditions.

The second half began as the first had ended with Gorey again spreading the ball and stretching Enniscorthy’s defence.

Eventually the referee penalised Enniscorthy for holding-on in the ruck and James Nolen stepped up and added another three points to Gorey’s score, now; Enniscorthy 5  -  Gorey 18.

Both teams made changes to their line-ups, with Seán Mahon coming on for Eoin Walsh, and Kallum O’Donoghue for Fergal Bolger with some rearrangements to add fresh bodies to the scrum

The effects of these changes were immediately evident, as Gorey won the very next scum against the head and Stephen Dukes was released and ran past several Enniscorthy payers to score Gorey’s third try. James Nolan converted to extend Gorey’s lead;  Enniscorthy 5  -  Gorey 25.

Enniscorthy continued to compete hard and they gradually began to make inroads into Gorey territory. Gorey were now being forced to defend in their own 22, as Enniscorthy advanced towards the try line. Wave after wave of Enniscorthy attack was defended valiantly by Gorey. Just when it looked like Enniscorthy would finally breach Gorey’s line, they inexplicably opted for the drop-goal to leave them Enniscorthy 8  -  Gorey 25 with ten minutes to go.

Both sides continued for battle honestly right up to the final whistle, but ultimately Gorey were just too strong on the day for this brave Enniscorthy side.

Gorey now progress to meet Tullow in the semi-final.

GOREY TEAM

1.   James Mulligan

2.   J.J. Earle

3.   Richard Deering

4.   Dean Redmond (Capt)

5.   Harry Woods

6.   Conor Hatton

7.   Fergal Bolger

8.   Donnchadh Carroll

9.   Robert Harrington

10.   Seán O’Connor

11.   Jack Cleary

12.   David Eikrem

13.   Eoin Walsh

14.   Rory O’Toole

15.   Cathal O’Neil

REPLACEMENTS

16.  Kallum O’Donoghue

17.   Seán Mahon

18.   Stephen Duke

19.   James Nolan

20.   David O’Neill