All Ireland League – Old Wesley 20 Naas 57
Naas RFC had a day full of tries in Donnybrook against Old Wesley, in Round 15 of the AIL.
The visitors started very lively when Jack Sheridan scored his first try within 5 minutes to put them ahead, and Paddy Taylor doubled their lead in as much time. Peter Osborne converted both tries and Naas had a 0-14 lead. Cassidy responded with a penalty to get the scoreboard ticking over for Old Wesley, but Naas responded minutes later through Osborne’s boot. 3-17.
Jack Sheridan struck again from a crisp scrum move to go 21 points ahead, before Alex Molloy got Wesley’s first try, making it 8-24 after half an hour. Jack’s brother Charlie Sheridan went over after a cheeky kick and collected again to extend Naas’s lead to 23 points. Wesley were struggling to get into the Naas 22 and were forced back to inside their half or only as close as the Naas 10 metre line. Willem Johnstone got on the end of a nice move between Eoin Murphy and Charlie Meagher to get Wesley back to 13-31 at half time.
The second half saw the home team come out of the blocks when Kieran O’Shea rumbled over following lineout pressure, turning to penalties for Old Wesley, O’Shea steered the maul over the line and Wesley were nearly in touching distance when Cassidy got the conversion. 20-31. As the clock ticked down, Wesley were chasing the game and forcing things to happen. Mistakes led to Naas punishing, scoring 4 tries in the final 20 minutes through Donal Conroy twice, Charlie Sheridan and centre Paddy Taylor to make the final score 20-57
Scorers: Tries: Alex Molloy, Willem Johnstone, Kieran O’Shea; Con: Ian Cassidy; Pen: Ian Cassidy
Team: Tom Larke; Sam Burns, Alex Molloy, Eoin Deegan, Eoin Murphy; Ian Cassidy, Willem Johnstone; Adam Watchorn, Kieran O’Shea, Evin Coyle, Reuben Pim (capt), David Motyer, Charlie Meagher, Gavin Meagher, Will Fay. Replacements: Rian Handley, Rory Duggan, Oisin Linnane, Fergus Jemphrey, Adam O’Connor, Charlie O’Regan.
Click here for photos by Ken Richardson
