AIB 1B – Garryowen 17 Old Wesley 41
After last week’s disappointing result Old Wesley bounced back in impressive fashion on Saturday by travelling down to the Limerick heartland of Garryowen and went back to the top of table by emphatically defeating the home side on a scoreline of 41-17. This was a thoroughly deserved victory, based on an aggressive defence throughout, allied to some clinical finishing, yielding 6 tries, when the opportunities presented themselves.
There was a lively start to the first half with both sides having half chances, before Tom Larke opened the scoring on 7 minutes with a superb 35 metre penalty into the wind after a scrum penalty – 3-0 to Wesley. Great line out work from man of the match, Billy Corrigan, and a bone- crunching tackle by Eoin Deegan kept the pressure on Garryowen. On 12 minutes, Wesley scored a superb try when, after good play by Kieran O’Shea, Paidi Farrell made a searing run up the wing and his perfectly timed inside pass saw Tom Larke running a great support line to sprint over the line. Larke added the points to make the scoreline 10-0 to Wesley.
Shortly after, and against the run of play, Garryowen winger, Sean Sexton, capitalised on a misplaced pass to intercept and sprint in under the posts, with Tom Wood adding the points – Wesley 10-7. After a great run by flanker, Cathal Kelly, Garryowen managed to regain possession and only strong Wesley defence held the line intact after incessant Garryowen pressure and a critical turnover finally lifted the siege.
Garryowen levelled matters after 30 minutes when Wesley were caught in possession and the jackal yielded a penalty which Tom Wood knocked over – 10-10. After 35 minutes, Wesley deservedly regained the lead when Jamie Clark made an explosive break up the middle and fed Evan Kenny to his left, who made great progress before making a spectacular inside pass to Ethan Black who crashed over for a wonderful team try. Reliable kicker, Larke, duly added the points. Half time score 17-10 Wesley.
The elements deteriorated around half time and the second half commenced in torrential rain. At this stage, Wesley grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and ruthlessly punished a Garryowen yellow card by racking up 12 unanswered points during this period to effectively seal the match. Firstly, captain Kieran O’Shea was on the end of a great maul try and, soon after, a quick line out yielded a second try for O’Shea. Larke added the points to the second try with a superb strike from the touch line in awful conditions. This brought the score to 29-10 and also yielded the all – important try bonus point.
The Wesley scrum turned the screw all day and yielded a plethora of penalties. This pressure led to another try by replacement hooker, Rian Handley, with Larke adding the points – 36-10. Garryowen, to their credit, never gave up and they scored an excellent breakaway converted try, to give them a chance of a try bonus point – 36-17. But straight from the kick off, Paidi Farrell showed the benefit of a hard chase when capitalising on scrappy play in the Garryowen defence to score an opportunist try to close the scoring – 41-17 Wesley.
The Wesley defence was superb in the closing minutes, when they were very keen to deprive Garryowen of a try bonus point (which could be important at season’s end), with strong hits and carries from, in particular, Charlie Meagher and Jarrod Homan, keeping the line intact. It was difficult to pick out stars, as there were many in a brilliant team performance, which augurs well for the next tranche of matches.
Click here for photos by Ken Richardson
Scorers: Tries: Kieran O’Shea 2, Ethan Black, Paidi Farrell, Rian Handley, Tom Larke; Cons: Tom Larke 4; Pen: Tom Larke
HT: Garryowen 10 Old Wesley 17
Team: Tom Larke; Paidi Farrell, Ethan Black, Eoin Deegan, Jules Fenelon; Niall Carroll, Evan Kenny; Jamie Clark, Kieran O’Shea (capt), Kian Regan, Billy Corrigan, Shane Cawley, Cathal Kelly, Charlie Meagher, Pat McBarron. Replacements: Rian Handley, Adam Watchorn, Dan Campbell, Luke O’Connor, Jarrod Homan, Ewan Watson.
