Jes 20: Summerhill 0
Foul weather: fair rugby. Even in the team photo, the hair looks battered, the eyes squinting and the boys cruelly pummeled by the Atlantic ‘Yellow Warning’ weather. Upwind, a squad of very adult-looking boys from Summerhill loitered with wind; gradient and size on their side.
But the Jes U14s play rugby well. Where they lacked in stature, they made up with speed, agility and snappy ball play. Where Summerhill tried to go through and wanted a confrontational game, the Jes whipped the ball round. And it worked: most of the game’s twenty points were notched up with tries on the wings.
The first points were scored shortly after the opening whistle as soon as Coláiste Iognáid gained possession. Charlie Power snatched the ball from a pile of bodies to battle across the line on the left and seven minutes later, Sam Gibson skipped through a ruck to score in the centre. Just before half time, Hugh Reddan wrecked his man with a side-step before finishing in the other corner. No surprise that the rising gale confounded all attempts at a Jes conversion.
With hefty tackles from Hugh Gavin, Ryan Kavanagh and Nathan McCormack, Summerhill found it difficult to make any inroads and after the re-start the Galway lads were quick to regain control. Indeed, at no time during the match did the Sligo men encroach beyond the Jes 22 meter line.
After a pressure relieving kick from Ben O’Malley, Charlie Leonard scored the squad’s fourth try deep into the second half and the Jes U14 went home battered, muddy, soaking wet but happy.