O'Connell Cup Final : Old Wesley 8 Clontarf 3

This was a match of opposites, Clontarf, a seasoned team  featuring a number of ex senior players, and Old Wesley, a younger, apart from  the odd 42 year old, less experienced side. However Wesley’s sharper backline and demon tackling won out on the night over the more physical Clontarf.

Wesley were on the scoreboard after just 8 minutes with a Brendan Phelan try after some fine physical play by that old warhorse Dave  Bursey.  Then on the quarter hour Ronan Donovan kicked a penalty to take an 8 nil lead. Clontarf were further penalised for an illegal tackle on Ross Johnson but the kick was missed. Whilst Clontarf never threatened the Wesley line for the whole first half they will rue not having an accurate kicker missing a number of penalty opportunities. Indeed a long range kick just on half time fell well short and wide.

Wesley started the second half with some fine plays and Clontarf were becoming more indisciplined leading to a yellow card for their number 6. However Wesley were unable to capitalise on any of the penalty opportunities. Coming into the final quarter Clontarf stared to exert their physicality putting pressure on the Wesley line however some crunch tackling in particular by Karl Cabena denied the Northsiders any scores. Adding to their woes Clontarf missed a relatively easy 30 meter penalty which probably summed up their disappointing day with the boot. ‘Tarf did eventually get on the scoreboard with just 3 minutes of ordinary time remaining kicking a penalty from under the posts. However their indiscipline cropped up again when their number 6 was again carded, this time red.

Despite some tense final moments Wesley held on to win the O’Connell Cup for the fourth time in the club’s history.

Old Wesley scores:-  Brendan Phelan (try), R. Donovan (pen)