For only the third time in their history Gorey J2 reached the final of the Provincial Towns Cup.
After a titanic battle with Wicklow in which their dream was nearly sunk they finally managed to put their name on the card for the final which will be played next Sunday week. Their opponents will be Naas.
After racing into a 29 12 lead at the break and extending that to 36 12 early into the second half Gorey looked to have one foot in the final only for a remarkable comeback by Wicklow reduced the deficit to all square deep in injury time.
Gorey were out of the blocks early with their pack dominating the early exchanges and an early Cian Hadden penalty and Captain Cillian Tomkins try had them 10 0 up in the opening ten minutes. Another power play by the Gorey pack with Lloyd Stephens carrying deep into the Wicklow 22 and a number of phases later Gorey touched down in the corner for a 15 0 lead with 20 minutes on the clock.
Wicklow finally got their act together and a well worked move saw them go over to leave the score at 15 7.
But try as they might they struggled to create any openings as the Gorey defence dealt with every threat with a solid green and white wall standing firm.
With 10 minutes left to the break Gorey powered into the Wicklow 22 and again a number of phases later were over for a Dylan Slator try.
They were not done yet as a rattled Wicklow struggled to deal with the Gorey attack. Deep into injury time Gorey added another try with Lloyd Stephens touching down to leave the halftime score at 29 7.
The restart saw Wicklow move into the Gorey half and as they moved the ball wide and ever alert Joe Naughton went for the intercept to run the length of the field to leave 24 between the sides.
It looked all over but Wicklow had not got to the semifinal to leave it at that.
Slowly they began to get a foothold and started moving the ball at pace with their slick backs looking to find holes in the Gorey defence. Eventually 10 minutes later they got an opening and landed a good try out wide. Wicklow sensed blood and grew in confidence and 15 minutes later were back at 36 24 after 3 excellent tries. Another Wicklow try had them in touching distance.
Gorey were now reeling as Wicklow threw the kitchen sink at them and deep into injury time they went in under the posts to leave the score at 36 each.
It really was looking ominous for Gorey with twenty minutes of extra time to now deal with.
The first phase of injury time saw Wicklow take the lead for the first time when awarded a penalty. But unbelievable after that Gorey took back control of the game and Eoin Walshe went in under the posts to lead again.
Wicklow seem to run out of energy as the Gorey pack took the game to them.
The second phase of extra time saw Gorey keep the ball in the Wicklow half for almost the entire period to see them home after what was one of the most eventful games all year.
It was a fitting Semifinal between two teams with different strengths. It was the Gorey pack that edged the game for them with the classy Wicklow backs dragging them back into the game when all looked dead.
Gorey move on to the final in two weeks to play Naas which will no doubt be just as eventful.
Gorey had some fine performances with Cillian Tomkins Cian Hadden Joe Naughton in great form but it was in the forwards where the foundation was built for this victory with everyone to a man producing the goods with Lloyd Stephens, Cian Byrne, Harry Steacy and Shane Guilfoyle outstanding.
D Slator C Byrne S Guilfoyle S Traynor L Stephens H Steacy E Stephens T Stokes G Slattery C Hadden M Wallace C Tomkins Capt. J Naughton R O Loughlin R Gibney E Walsh D Hendy D Sawyer E Byrne C Reynolds S Tomkins A Cushen
After a titanic battle with Wicklow in which their dream was nearly sunk they finally managed to put their name on the card for the final which will be played next Sunday week. Their opponents will be Naas.
After racing into a 29 12 lead at the break and extending that to 36 12 early into the second half Gorey looked to have one foot in the final only for a remarkable comeback by Wicklow reduced the deficit to all square deep in injury time.
Gorey were out of the blocks early with their pack dominating the early exchanges and an early Cian Hadden penalty and Captain Cillian Tomkins try had them 10 0 up in the opening ten minutes. Another power play by the Gorey pack with Lloyd Stephens carrying deep into the Wicklow 22 and a number of phases later Gorey touched down in the corner for a 15 0 lead with 20 minutes on the clock.
Wicklow finally got their act together and a well worked move saw them go over to leave the score at 15 7.
But try as they might they struggled to create any openings as the Gorey defence dealt with every threat with a solid green and white wall standing firm.
With 10 minutes left to the break Gorey powered into the Wicklow 22 and again a number of phases later were over for a Dylan Slator try.
They were not done yet as a rattled Wicklow struggled to deal with the Gorey attack. Deep into injury time Gorey added another try with Lloyd Stephens touching down to leave the halftime score at 29 7.
The restart saw Wicklow move into the Gorey half and as they moved the ball wide and ever alert Joe Naughton went for the intercept to run the length of the field to leave 24 between the sides.
It looked all over but Wicklow had not got to the semifinal to leave it at that.
Slowly they began to get a foothold and started moving the ball at pace with their slick backs looking to find holes in the Gorey defence. Eventually 10 minutes later they got an opening and landed a good try out wide. Wicklow sensed blood and grew in confidence and 15 minutes later were back at 36 24 after 3 excellent tries. Another Wicklow try had them in touching distance.
Gorey were now reeling as Wicklow threw the kitchen sink at them and deep into injury time they went in under the posts to leave the score at 36 each.
It really was looking ominous for Gorey with twenty minutes of extra time to now deal with.
The first phase of injury time saw Wicklow take the lead for the first time when awarded a penalty. But unbelievable after that Gorey took back control of the game and Eoin Walshe went in under the posts to lead again.
Wicklow seem to run out of energy as the Gorey pack took the game to them.
The second phase of extra time saw Gorey keep the ball in the Wicklow half for almost the entire period to see them home after what was one of the most eventful games all year.
It was a fitting Semifinal between two teams with different strengths. It was the Gorey pack that edged the game for them with the classy Wicklow backs dragging them back into the game when all looked dead.
Gorey move on to the final in two weeks to play Naas which will no doubt be just as eventful.
Gorey had some fine performances with Cillian Tomkins Cian Hadden Joe Naughton in great form but it was in the forwards where the foundation was built for this victory with everyone to a man producing the goods with Lloyd Stephens, Cian Byrne, Harry Steacy and Shane Guilfoyle outstanding.
D Slator C Byrne S Guilfoyle S Traynor L Stephens H Steacy E Stephens T Stokes G Slattery C Hadden M Wallace C Tomkins Capt. J Naughton R O Loughlin R Gibney E Walsh D Hendy D Sawyer E Byrne C Reynolds S Tomkins A Cushen
