Under 20s Premiership 2 – Old Wesley 44 Galwegians 12
The Old Wesley u20s team scored an impressive 8 try victory over Galwegians in Donnybrook to claim the title of Premiership 2 champions with 2 games still to play. The team is now 14 points clear at the top and with a maximum of 10 points left to be played for we are now uncatchable at the top of the league. Our final home game in 2 weeks time will see this very accomplished team be officially crowned champions of Prem 2 and a just reward for all of the hard work that has been carried out by Players, Coaches and back room team alike.
The game itself was a stop start affair with numerous stoppages for scores, injuries, penalties, resets and handling errors due to the blustery conditions. It made for a busy afternoon for the team Head of Hydration, Declan Melvin who made many trips onto the field clocking up some additional mileage and necessary detox in the process.
Old Wesley got off to a flying start with Andrew Vincent scoring in the right hand corner just after the kick off. Unfortunately it was not an afternoon for place kickers with only 2 successful conversions from 8 attempts. This in the main was due to the difficult swirling breeze that made kicking very difficult to adapt. Following the first try Wesley kept the score board ticking over and with 25 minutes gone the winning bonus point was secured with tries from Sam Kenny, Zak Bursey and Cameron Watson; with all 3 players making very strong breaks and showing some skill to each score fine tries and leave the game out of sight by half time.
With the addition of 4 fresh players after the break and playing with the breeze the home team started the second half with the same intent, with Cameron Watson again crossing over the whitewash to extend the lead to 25-0. For the following 10 minutes and with the introduction of 3 more substitutions the game swing in favour of the visitors with the away team scoring a well worked try to claw the score back to 25-7. But no sooner had they scored when Eoin Deegan scored the home teams 6th try following a well timed intercept and sprint from the half way line. This time with the try under posts the conversion was added to move the score to 32-7. The dancing feet of Luke Sweeney saw him cross over and move the score to 37-7, and a final try followed by Stephen Keane who crossed following fine interplay with Fergus Noonan. With another conversion added by Bill Corrigan the score was 44-7 with 5 minutes left to play.
Just before the end Galwegians crossed for a second try and move the score to 44-12 followed by the final whistle to allow the Wesley players and coaching staff celebrate this momentous achievement. The next 2 weeks will see the team travel to 3rd placed Trinity on 31st March and then the final league game of the season at home in Donnybrook to Buccaneers on the 7th April. The ambition of this team is to remain unbeaten for the whole season and with 2 games left to play the desire to make this a reality is very much in the mindset of the players.