Defeat in tough derby
Wednesday February 10 2010
THIS UNDER-13 derby proved to be a hard-fought affair. Wexford were missing a number of regulars but the replacements proved the strength and depth of the squad. The game was played over three periods of 20 minutes.
The Wexford pack was a re-jigged affair but settled well. They pushed inexorabily towards the right corner, and then a beautiful passing move resulted in Cian O'Keeffe crossing in the left corner.
Heavy pressure from Waterpark late on resulted in John Landers scoring under the posts. The conversion followed, leaving Wanderers trailing 7-5 at the break.
A raft of changes on both sides resulted in more expansive rugby, and Wexford hit their purple patch. Matt Doyle, Jack Stafford and Joe O'Connor were at the heart of everything, and phase after phase of rugby resulted in our full-back scoring a great try which Matt Doyle converted.
Then a crossfield kick was taken at speed by Luke Roche who sent Jack Stafford over for the best try of the day. The score at the end of the second period was 1712.
Injuries were mounting and Waterpark took the lead following two breakaway tries by that man again, John Landers. Wexford tried to rise their game again, and their man of the match, Joe O'Connor, made a break from his own '22. If anyone could have stayed with him, it would have been a certain try.
Wexford were camped on Waterpark's '22 but they shut them out. Conor Halligan, Daire McCormack, Martin Whelan and Bill Quaid caught the eye in the forwards.
Wexford Wanderers 5, Wicklow 8: The Under-15s travelled to Wicklow for this Leinster quarter-final clash and had a real ding-dong battle.
Falling behind to a penalty kick, Wanderers rallied in the second-half and went ahead with a Shane McGuinness try. They held this narrow lead into the final five minutes, but Wicklow managed to score a controversial try, with the touchdown being hotly disputed by the Wexford lads.
