Sunday’s Well 27 Skibbereen  15

The ‘Well bounced back with a big and vital bonus point victory against a determined Skibbereen side at Musgrave Park. It was far from perfect; but with further players being re-integrated into the team; the ‘Well showed enough class and composure to secure the four-try victory in a tough hard-fought encounter.

Skibbereen settled into the game early and a David Kitson penalty on four minutes boosted their confidence further. They were very tenacious and applied immense pressure on the ‘Well and enforcing errors. A great interception by full-back David Shannon saw him race down the right-wing and a kick-chase saw him gather the ball over the line. With Kitson putting the West Cork men up 10-0 after almost as many minutes.

The ’Well eventually regrouped. They managed to turn the tide of penalties and eventually gain some field position. Rob O’Keeffe and Alex Guerin made some smart carries while the return of Cathal Quinn saw him grow into the game. The line-out gave them a platform to build on, with some key steals to stifle Skibb’s momentum and then set up an attacking platform.

After half an hour they got into a strong attacking position. While playing prop; Kieran Stokes took control of the line-out throw-ins and linked up with hooker Rob O’Keeffe at the front of a line-out. O’Keeffe surged towards the line and pass into O’Brien who was stopped short but he set up Cormac Kelliher who was certain to score until a high tackle as he was about to touch the ball-down. The ‘Well did get the penalty-try to reduce the arrears.

The ’Well started to get into their mojo. Cathal Quinn almost made a great burst but a last-ditch tackle saw him pushed into touch. The ‘well created another opening and Logan Henry seemed to get crowded out in the middle of the Twenty-Two. He made a chip through and with about five Sibb’ players around him, he was the one that managed to win the greasy ball and touch down. Adding the two points.

The ‘Well finished strongly and a nice blind-side move saw Stokes and O’Keeffe again combine to put Ian Casey through and establish a 19-10 lead at the break.

Ian Murphy came on in the second-half and the ‘Well were starting to demolish the Skibb’ scrum. Logan extended the lead after a bright start with a penalty but some clever kicking by Skibb’ saw them get back into the game. After immense pressure; David Kitson touched down for them.

Sunday’s Well finally sealed the game and the bonus point with a little over ten minutes remaining. A magnificent scrum saw them win a penalty, which was superbly kicked by Logan to the corner. A secure catch by O’Brien saw the ‘Well drive to the line and Murphy capped his super-sub impact with the bonus-point try.

Scorers: Sunday’s Well: Penalty Try, Logan Henry, Ian Casey, Ian Murphy tries; Logan Henry con, pen.

Skibbereen: David Kitson try, pen, con. David Shannon try

Sunday’s Well: Gary Downey; Ian Casey, Alex Lane, Alex Guerin, Cathal Quinn; Logan Henry, Fabien Loughrey; Kieran Stokes, Rob O’Keeffe, Michael McCarthy; Kevin Holland, James Mulcahy; Cormac Kelliher, Finn MacFhlannchadha, Conor O’Brien. Replacements: Evan O’Connell, Ian Murphy, Reece Mintern, Shane Desmond, Aaron Beale, David Dwyer, Emeka Asiegbu.

Skibbereen: David Shannon, Michael O’Donovan, Rory Byrne, Daniel Kingston, Cianán Coombes; David Kitson, Gavin Foley; Kieran Shannon, Dan Duggan, Daniel Cullinane; Lorcan Carey, Tomek Lechtanski; Kevin Coombes, Thomas Beare, Cillian O’Neil. Replacements: Patrick Hodnett, Cathal McCarthy, Brian Crowley, Richard Bushe, Aidan Cregan, Michael O’Sullivan.