GOREY 27    SWORDS 15

Tuesday December 13 2011

GOREY GO in to the Christmas break five points clear at the top of Leinster League Division 2B thanks to their second consecutive bonus point victory on Saturday last.

They travelled to the A.S.L.A. in Swords for what they knew would be a tough match against a Swords team who they only managed to beat by a single score early in the season.

The match started poorly for Gorey, and after failing to clear their line from the kick-off they soon found themselves under pressure. They gave away a series of penalties, the fourth of which Swords elected to kick at goal right in front of the Gorey posts. The ball sailed wide.

Gorey responded well to this near miss by Swords and worked their way back up the pitch. They won a line-out inside Swords '22. Hooker Barry O'connor threw a superb ball to Paul Redmond who set up a maul. The Gorey pack powered towards the Swords try line and scrum-half Matt Bater picked from the back and scored.

Gorey's dominance continued for most of the first-half, their second try coming from an O'connor-redmond line-out, but this time it was Michael Woods who touched down for the try. Gorey led 10-0 at half-time.

The second-half started well for Gorey as after just six minutes Paul Redmond broke from his own half and beat the whole Swords defence to score a magnificent try. Gorey then got the all-important bonus point try when Matt Bater broke off the back of the scrum just outside the Swords '22 and drew in two defenders before passing to Tommy Martin who scored his first try in Senior rugby.

For some reason it was only after the bonus point try that Swords started to play and they scored two tries in a ten-minute period, leaving the score at 20-10 to Gorey with just ten minutes to go. Adrian Copeland prevented a nervous finish though by taking a penalty quickly himself and then diving over a Swords defender to score. Carl Coates scored the conversion, the only successful shot at goal in the whole match.

Swords got a consolation try in the last play to make the final score 27-15 to Gorey who are now on a six-match winning streak.

Gorey: C. Smith, B. O'connor, C. Owley, P. Wafer, I. Porter, M. Woods, A. Copeland, P. Redmond, M. Bater, A. O'brien, K. Breen, C. Peavoy, T. Sheehy, T. Martin, P. Clince, C. Hennessy, C. Coates, W. Peavoy.