AIL – Old Belvedere 13 – Old Wesley 10 – 15th Feb 2025
Old Wesley travelled the short distance to meet Old Belvedere in round 14 of the competition, and although they did not win, Old Wesley put in one of their best performances of the season pushing the league leaders to the limit in a tight game.
The home side had the better of the opening exchanges after setting up shop inside the Wesley 22. And after 6 minutes centre Justin Leonard crossed for the first try of the match, converted by David Wilkinson. From the restart Old Wesley started to gain territory and enjoy more possession. They had a number of promising scoring opportunities but the opposition defence held firm.
Wilkinson extended the lead with a penalty goal but Wesley continued to create opportunities for themselves. Their moment came 5 minutes before the bread when Andrew Doyle broke a tackle inside the Belvedere 22. He was brought to ground 5 metres short of the line but recovered to dive over for a try. Ian Cassidy converted to reduce the gap to 3 points. Half time 7-10
Old Wesley looked the better side for much of the second half capitalising on the slight breeze advantage. After 6 minutes one of the Old Belvedere players received a yellow card for a deliberate knock on. Wesley kicked to touch before being awarded another penalty near the posts. Cassidy kicked the points to level the sides at 10 all. 20 minutes later Wilkinson regained the lead with a penalty kick. Wesley continued to attack but the Belvedere defence held firm.
A second yellow card for the home side gave Wesley a scoring opportunity 40 metres out from the posts. Cassidy attempted the kick but was just wide of the sticks. And that was the last scoring opportunity for both sides.
With 4 games to go in the campaign Old Wesley lie 4th just one point behind Blackrock. But if they can repeat this strong performance they will certainly win more matches. Next up, Naas at home in 2 weeks time.
Click here for photos by Ken Richardson
Click here for photos by Dominic Coyle
Click here for video highlights
Scorers: Try: Andrew Doyle; Con: Ian Cassidy; Pen: Ian Cassidy
HT: Old Belvedere 10 Old Wesley 7
OLD WESLEY: Tom Larke; Paidi Farrell, Alex Molloy, Eoin Deegan, Eoin Murphy; Ian Cassidy, Andrew Doyle; Evin Coyle, Stephen Smyth, Adam Watchorn, Shane Cawley, David Motyer, Charlie Meagher, Reuben Pim (capt), Will Fay. Replacements: Finn Tierney, Rory Duggan, Adrien Charbonnier, Gavin Meagher, Sam Burns, Willem Johnstone.
