Under 20s Premiership Qualifier – Old Wesley 32 Skerries19
Old Wesley made their home debut in this year’s Under 20s league qualifiers against Skerries at a windy Donnybrook on Sunday. Having suffered a 1 point defeat against Buccanners last weekend, this young squad finally found their rhythm. Leading from the kick-off, we never trailed and playing a stylish handling game were ahead by 14.0 at half time , courtesy of a pair of well worked close-in tries. Facing into a stiff breeze in the second half, our lads had to show their defensive skills in a superb display of strong tackling and astute kicking. We sneaked another couple of scores, but Skerries heavier pack and the strong wind put our lads to the test, eventually pulling the score back to 22.19. Suddenly, our backs were to the wall but this young squad really showed their fighting spirit and the fruits of some hard work in training under our new coaches Ian Dumbleton and Ronan Donovan. With our pack finding another gear, and the backs working some great moves with ball in hand, we eventually ripped Skerries apart and ran in two stunning tries to win 32.19. All 22 of the squad contributed handsomely to this victory, and securing our place in Premier 2 in the league. This was a well-deserved victory for the coaches and squad, mixing a very promising blend of last season’s experienced veterans with a group of talented newcomers.
Try scorers on Sunday included Luke Corish, Bill Corrigan, David Bowles, Sean Ballance and Sam Kenny.
The match squad was Glen Dudley, Mark Braithwaite, Luke Sweeney, Bill Corrigan, Daniel Gilmer, Sean Ballance, Shane O’Hanrahan, Scott Levie, Andrew Egan, Andrew Irwin, Sam Kenny, David Motyer, Lloyd Stephens, Stuart Dudley, Luke Corish, David Bowles, Jordan Leybourne, Gavin Parr, Harrison Mahood-Pitt, Geoffrey Mahon, Adam Culbert, Philip Deane.