Sundays Well RFC

Sundays Well (32) vs Instonians (14)

Musgrave Park, 14:30PM

The ‘Well ended the season on a high with an excellent bonus point victory over a very strong Instonians team in glorious sunshine at Musgrave Park. The conditions were perfect for an end of season cracker and both team contributed to a very entertaining affair. Banbridge's success at home to Navan means that they secure the fourth spot and leaves the 'Well finishing fifth in the table.

The forwards once again earned their corn with the imperious Chris Long again putting in a mammoth display and being involved in all facets of play. An all Moynihan front-row once again proved to be a deadly weapon at scrum time while John Kidney and Killian Casey continually bulldozed their way over the gain line. James Mulcahy and Rory Martin also proved their credential with some hard tackling and excellent work at the breakdown while Eamon Murphy showed skills that were more akin to a Fijian sevens international than a front five grunter when he took his crucial try in the second half.

The back-line proved their capabilities as well, when the forwards allowed them to get their hands on the ball. Alan Long and Gavin Blower made a number of telling runs with Owen French bursting pace almost seeing him through on a couple of occasions.  Danny O’Shea and Eamon Ronan were well able to mix things up with both boot and hand. Mike Flood unfortunately had to leave early on after making some hard hits but his replacement Barry Hanrahan proved his credentials moving to ful back and dealing with plenty of difficult ball.

Ruairi Geary organised his troops well at scrum-half as did Tom Parker later on with the English man using his force of personality to inspire the team to a vital bonus point win.

Instonains travelled down with a strong side and were willing to run the ball from every corner of the pitch. They were causing problems and the ‘Well needed plenty of committed last ditch tackles with Ronan making a cuple of notable hits close to the touch-line.

The ‘Well pack started to exert their authority as the game wore on and a series of superb plays led to their opening salvo with a monstrous maul seeing James Mulcahy touch down. Ronan added a penalty and a conversion to leave the half-time score at 10-0 but both sides rued a number of missed chances towards the end of the opening period.

Instonians high intensity running game reaped it’s reward after the break with Joshua Devitt proving an elusive runner. Tries by Adam Telford and Seamus Mallon and a brace of excellent conversions by Keith Roffan saw the Northerners forge into a 14-13 lead, with Ronan putting over a penalty in between both tries.

The ‘Well team were not happy to lose three games on the bounce and the rallied for the final twenty minutes. Each player put their bodies on the line and they finally created the openings with a number of fantastic scores. Breaks by Parker and Blower had the Instonians defence on the back-=foot and some fine long range passing created the gap with Chris Long putting a runner through on the inside before his namesake Alan Long finished off.

The ‘Well knew the best form of defence was attack and went on the rampage with Danny O’Shea chipping a great ball thrugh along the touch-line. Second row replacement Eamon Murphy produced a moment of magic as he raced ont the low bouncing ball at full pace and managed to pick it off his laces without breaking stride before racing in under the posts.

With three tries secured, all the focus was now on the crucial bonus point and they reverted to the pack grunting for every inch and after a series of mauls, rucks and scrums Michael Moynihan finally broke loose to secure maximum points for the ‘Well.

Sunday’s Well: D O’Shea; O French, M Flood, a Long, G Blower; E Ronan, R Geary; Joe Moynihan John Moynihan, M Moynihan; J Kidney, J Mulcahy; C Long (c), R Martin, K Casey. Replacements for Sunday’s Well:  B Hanrahan for Flood 29, T Parker for Geary and A O’Donovan for Joe Moynihan both 56, E Murphy for Kidney 62.

Instonians: J Devitt; R Fegan, S Mallon, M McKeever (c), C Morgan; K Roffan, M Sergeant; A Whitten, J Craig, G Mithcell; A Telford, A Mairs; P Marks, J Scott, B McDonnell. Replacements for Instonians: D Mitchell for Whitten 22, N Andress for Sergeant 69.

Referee: B Montayne (A.R.L.B.)