Athboy stay on track to chalk up deserved victory

Athboy RFC 27

Railway Union 24

Athboy kicked off their Leinster League campaign with a hard fought 27 -24 win against Railway Union in Dublin 4 on Saturday afternoon.

The rain stopped just in time for kick off, but the slippery ball and this being the first game of the season, resulted in a very stop start opening 15 minutes with both teams having handling errors.

It was Athboy who got to grips with the conditions quicker and after a nice line-out move, debutant Keith Horan, dotted down for his first ever try.

The restart wasn't dealt with and Railway were awarded a scrum inside the away sides 22, from the resulting pressure Robbie McGrath was shown a yellow card.

The home side continued to apply the pressure and crossed the line after creating an overlap on the right hand side giving them a 7 - 5 lead after 25 minutes.

Athboy hit back almost immediately with another line-out move that was finished off by Cathal Dempsey. The teams cancelled each other out for the remainder of the half and Athboy went into the break leading 10 - 7.

Athboy started the second-half in ruthless fashion scoring two quick-fire tries, the first for Shane Butterly and the second, for the bonus point,by Mickey Casey after good work from the forwards, giving Athboy a 13 point gap with 30 minutes to go.

Railway were next to score a try and another yellow card was dished out, this time to Cathal Dempsey. With Athboy just after conceding and down a man you would have thought that the home side would be next to score however it was the away side that scored through Colm Kirby.

With the score at 27-12 going into the final 10 minutes and Athboy eased off the gas a few the home side took full advantage by scoring two tries closing the deficit to just three points with two minutes to go.

Railway battered the line but Athboy's defence was up to the task and with the clock in the red Casey managed to get a turnover and that was that.

Big congrats to the debutants Keith Horan, Robbie Jmcg, Oran Ledwith, Evan Cole and Cathal McKeown who all had great games. Man of the Match was outhalf, Eddie Kirby.

Athboy - 1. Keith Horan, 2. Shane Butterly, 3. Conor Finegan, 4. Colm Kirby, 5. Bryan Quirke, 6. Conor McGourty, 7. Niall Finegan, 8. Cathal Dempsey, 9. Alan Fox, 10. Eddie Kirby, 11. Cathal McKeown, 12. Dan Pyke, 13. Robbie McGrath, 14. Oran Ledwith, 15. Evan Cole. Subs Bert McLoughlin, Mickey Casey, Michael Fagan & Chris Carroll.

Tries: Keith Horan, Cathal Dempsey, Shane Butterly, Colm Kirby

Cons: Eddie Kirby × 1

* Training every Wednesday at 8pm, new and old players always welcome, contact Bryan 0861672180.

Next game at home versus Tallaght, 14/10 KO 3pm.