AIL 1A – Clontarf 38 – Old Wesley 22
Old Wesley showed plenty of attacking promise but were ultimately beaten 38–22 by Clontarf after a strong second-half surge from the hosts.
Clontarf made the brighter start and opened the scoring with a converted try after 13 minutes. Wesley responded four minutes later through the boot of Tom Larke, whose penalty reduced the deficit to 7–3. The home side then struck twice in quick succession, moving 12–3 ahead before Alex Soroka’s converted try stretched the score to 19–3 after 25 minutes.
Wesley needed a response, and they got one. On 30 minutes, Kieran O’Shea finished off a well-worked lineout move to cross for Wesley’s first try of the afternoon. The conversion was missed, leaving the score at 19–8. The visitors then produced one of their best passages of the match just before the interval. A superb attack from inside their own half ended with Ronan Kelly going over in the corner. Larke added the conversion to cut the gap to just four points, and Wesley went into half-time trailing 19–15 with real momentum.
That momentum carried into the second half. Just five minutes after the restart, David Maher crossed for Wesley’s third try. Larke converted again and, for the first time in the match, Old Wesley moved in front at 22–19. Clontarf, however, responded strongly. Soroka crossed again on 57 minutes and the conversion restored the hosts’ lead at 26–22. Another converted Clontarf try followed to make it 33–22, before a further unconverted score pushed the advantage out to 38–22.
Wesley continued to battle and enjoyed a number of promising attacking opportunities late on. They repeatedly kicked penalties to the corner and came close to adding a fourth try, with one effort held up and another attack ending from a lineout close to the Clontarf line. It was not to be, and Clontarf closed out a 38–22 victory.
Despite the defeat, there was plenty for Wesley to take from the performance. Three well-taken tries, a spell in the lead early in the second half and several strong attacking passages showed what the side can produce. The challenge now will be to build on those positives and turn promising periods into results.
Click here for photos by Ken Richardson
Click here for photos by Paul Shevlin
Scorers: Tries: Kieran O’Shea, Ronan Kelly, David Maher; Cons: Tom Larke (2); Pens: Tom Larke (1)
Team; Tom Larke; Charlie Hempenstall, Matias Jensen, Kristian Jensen, Ronan Kelly; Niall Carroll, Andrew Doyle; Kian Regan, Kieran O’Shea, Benjamin Popplewell; Thomas Nowlan, David Maher; Billy Corrigan (capt), Dan Campbell, Luke O’Connor. Replacements: Ben Guerin, Rian Handley, Adam Watchorn, Lachlan Stewart, Cian Butler, Stephen Hendy.
