Under 20 Premiership Qualifier – Old Wesley 15 Dublin University 40
Old Wesley took on a very strong Trinity side in Donnybrook on Sunday afternoon in a final throw of the dice for Premier 1 qualification. Playing with the wind in the first half Old Wesley took the lead with a penalty after 10 minutes through the boot of captain Shane O’Hanrahan while regular kicker Bill Corrigan was being treated for a blood injury. However, after some constant pressure near the Wesley goal line saw Trinity go in the corner for a try 3-5, with the conversion afterwards falling short. Wesley bounced back with a great break from Zak Bursey after pressure forcing the turnover and Wesley going ahead 8-5 with the conversion missed. With more and more pressure being put on by Trinity and some sharp inter play from right to left saw the visitors go in for their second try after 32 minutes, with again the conversion falling short into the wind. Shortly before half time Trinity chose to extend the lead to 8-13 with a penalty in front of the posts and went in at half time just 5 points up.
Playing with the wind in the second half, Trinity upped the pressure on the home team with an early penalty and then following up with 4 tries, 3 of which had successful conversions leaving the score 8-42 to the visitors with 8 minutes left to play. To their credit Old Wesley never gave up in a match that was over mid-way through the 2nd half and despite being out played at the breakdown and some careless possession concessions Old Wesley rallied and after some pressure captain Shane O’Hanrahan scored a great individual try and converted it to leave the final score 15-40.
Unlike previous games where the outcome of the game was not decided until the last few minutes of the match, this week the Old Wesley team never gave up and showed once again that this group of players can take on the best teams in Premier 1 and give a good account of themselves. It’s onwards and upwards now and get ready for the rest of the season ahead.