3rds win League Cup and Promotion – Old Wesley 34 Malahide 25
In the final of Metro League Division 4 Old Wesley beat Malahide in an exciting and entertaining match at Donnybrook. The win also means that Old Wesley are promoted to Metro League Division 3 for next season.
Old Wesley had a dream start scoring three tries within 15 minutes before the opposition barely had time to see the ball. Mark McDonnell crossed for the first try within a minute and a half, Jack Byrne finished off a back line movement for the second and Mark Fitzgibbon sliced through the defence to get in for the third. It was starting to look like a whitewash was on the cards, however the opposition eventually got into gear and started to exert pressure forcing Wesley to commit errors, concede penalties and on 25 minutes a yellow card for Jamie McConnell. Wesley defended well but the Northsiders eventually crossed for a converted try on the half hour. They augmented their score with a penalty soon after and all of a sudden in was back to a one score game. Furthermore Kenny McLaughlin will be disappointed with his goal kicking missing a number of attempts in the first half. Half time 17-10 and Old Wesley needed to refocus the mind.
The visitors started the second half by reducing their defecit to 4 points with a penalty goal and Wesley need to act quickly. Sure enough Fitzgibbon was on hand again galloping down the touchline to cross and eventually touch down under the posts. Johnny Willis turned up next when he finished off a move to make it 29-13 and Wesley were back to a three score lead. But the visitors weren’t prepared to give up and Wesley indiscipline led to a second yellow, this time for McDonald. With 8 minutes on the clock Malahide crossed for a try under the posts but they rushed and missed the conversion. Fitzgibbon responded and got over for his third try to reclaim the 16 point lead for Wesley. Again Malahide kept chasing and following a third yellow card, this time for John Wallace, they crossed again for a converted try. But time was running out and within two minutes the referee blew the final whistle.
Congratulations to this hard working side who have won Old Wesley’s first, and hopefully not last, pieces of silverware this season.
