Sunday’s Well  18 Bandon 6

The ‘Well came through a tough encounter against a strong Bandon side who were coming in to the game on the back of a convincing victory over Charleville last week. In a tough tenacious game; the ‘Well’s great weapon at the line-out; where James Mulcahy and Conor O’Brien were magnificent gave the ‘Well the platform to set up most of their scores and seal the win.

There should be plenty of competition for places this season with some notable returnees and new faces after last week. Cormac Kelliher was industrious as ever while out in the backs, Emeka Asiegbu; whose debut was delayed by a week after a late withdrawal at Kanturk had a great game in attack and defence.

Sunday’s Well got off to a dream start. Alex Lane – who notched a try to snatch victory late on last week on the wing, made an immediate impact. A driving maul off a line-out was held up and the ball was sent out to Lane who was playing in the centre and he crashed over the line on two minutes. Bandon did make a quick response and a clinical kick by Matthew Crowley put them on the scoreboard to make the game 5-3.

The ’Well had a penalty that they kicked to the corner. Adam Browne expertly found his target and ran around to the back of the driving maul. The co-ordination and power saw the ‘Well force their way over the line with Browne touching down.

As the half wore on; Bandon who impressed against Charleville got on the front-foot. The ‘Well were up against it and got a couple of yellow cards late in the half. They tackled ferociously and with venom and in the end Bandon settled for another Crowley penalty to make it 10-6 at the break.

Playing into a strong wind in the second-half; Sunday’s Well managed to eke out a penalty that Logan Henry slotted over to re-establish the host’s seven point advantage. The ‘Well used their forward advantage to regain control of the game. Browne again managed to get on the scoresheet just around the hour mark to give the ‘Well some breathing space at 18-6.

The ‘Well closed out the game with Kieran Stokes among those players returning to the fold off the bench. They will now await the victor of tomorrow’s clash between Muskerry and Clonakilty.

Scorers: Sunday’s Well: Alex Lane, Adam Browne 2 tries; Logan Henry pen.

Bandon: Matthew Crowley 2 pens.

Sunday’s Well: Ian Carey; Conor McCarthy, Jamie O’Leary, Alex Lane, Emeka Asiegbu; Logan Henry, Fabien Loughrey; Evan O’Connell, Adam Browne, Michael McCarthy; James Mulcahy, Shane O’Neill; C Kelliher, Darren Loftus, Conor O’Brien. Replacements:  Shane Whelan Carey, Kieran Stokes, Kevin Holland, Andrew Mintern, Shane Desmond, Peter Arigho, Ryan O’Donoghue-Kelleher, Rob Egar.

Bandon: Darragh O’Brien; Tim O’Leary, Aaron O’Reilly, Harry Hall, Jay van der Westhuizen; Matthew Crowley, Zak Allen; Padraig Galvin, Scott Kingston, Marco Prette; Brendan Twohig, Peter Skuse; Joshua Brady, Kain Donnellan, Robert McCarthy. Replacements: James Collins-O’Brien, Conor Egan, Hugh O’Mahony, Cian Crowley, Daniel Lane, Tadgh Galvin, Liam Egan.