It’s been 5 years since the u20s were in a Purcell Cup final and revenge took place late on Friday evening after 100 minutes of rugby when this years u20s defeated a very strong St Marys team to advance to the final of the Purcell Cup.
The teams were level at 17- 17 at full time, and just long enough for the Colts players and supporters to return from their League Final and see the extra time of this game, and thankfully the win after an extra time try from Zach Furlong scoring under the posts and Jonny Cazzini scoring the conversion to leave the final score of 24-17.
The game was played on the eve of Storm Kathleen and the weather turned from mild and breezy to persistent rain just after kick off. Wesley got off to a much better start and following some good individual runs and strong defence(Matthew Golden in defence and Warren MacWilliam with a strong carry), play was down in the Marys half. A penalty after 10 minutes saw the kick to the corner and from the lineout maul Ryan Jones scored and Old Wesley led 5-0 with the conversion going just wide.
Wesley were unlucky not to go further ahead with some slick handling and a number of Marys penalties but eventually following another kick to the corner and superb lineout maul, Captain Tom Geoghegan, who had an excellent game, touched down and this time Jonny Cazzini was successful with the kick and the score advanced to 12-0 to the home team.
Throughout the remainder of the 1st half we hassled and harried St Marys in the lineout with both Saul Nicholson and Harry Simpson all getting great turnovers, while Ryan Jones and Josh Meade both made nuisances of themselves around the breakdown. Suddenly we started conceding a number of penalties resulting in Marys getting a penalty kick before half time to take the score to 12 – 3 at the break.
In the second half Marys got off to the better start and within 5 minutes had scored a try with the conversion, we had a 2 point game 12-10 on our hands. However, as the subs came on for both sides, Andrew Farrelly finished off an excellent move to dot down on the far right hand side of the pitch but Cazzini was not able to add the afters on this occasion. The score moved to 17-10 and a bit of daylight. The rest of the bench was introduced in the next quarter and Mannie Apkin was certainly getting about the park with some fine mauling and breaks in close quarters.
Just at the death and the last play St Marys upped the gears and went up the pitch to score with a converted try and the match finished 17-17. When extra time resumed (20 minutes each way) no one relished the game which had no Yellow or Red cards being decided by tries scored, cards conceded, or if still level the away team win rule. Thankfully just at the end of the 1st period of extra time Zach Furlong crossed over under the posts following a strong maul. 24-17 was the final score and some great performances from 1 to 22 and Jamie Fish picked up the Pot Noodle Player of the Match on this occasion.
The final is confirmed for Sunday 21st April at 3pm in Energia Park with the opposition of Greystones who beat De La Salle Palmerstown 34-20 in a very windy Dr Hickey Park. It promises to be a great final and we would love to see as much support as possible down for the 20s, who thankfully have their tails up following a pretty hard season in Prem 1 of the JP Fanagan league.
All support from as many members as possible would be greatly appreciated
