Wicklow  38    -    31  Longford

Wicklow RFC U14's took on a strong Longford side in the quarter final of the Leinster Cup.

On a perfect day in Ashtown Lane, this up and coming team did not have a perfect start with an early try to the visitors after a concerted attacking effort and a strong break from a strong running Longford 12.

Brian O'Sullivan got the home side back on track after a great run by Jason O'Neill who fed the supporting O'Sullivan, who showed great pace to make the line.  Wicklow's second try came off a lineout with great offloading work by O'Neill and Nicholson who passed to Ben Fleming who crashed over beside the posts.  A third try this time from David Nicholson put a bit of daylight between the sides but Longford were in no mood to lie down managing a score of their own before half time. 

In the second half both sides had early possession and good attacking opportunities.  Wicklow lacked some concentration at times in defence and were turned over in attack a number of times allowing Longford to threaten their line early on.  A number of good tackles from Peter Hastie, David Nicholson and Jason O'Neill prevented the visitors from breaching their line.  Jason O'Neill made another strong break from a defensive position to score and Peter Hastie then added to the tally with another good try.  The try of the game was scored by Adam Dias following good work from forwards and backs and a great break by Riain Sweetman Burke who deftly kicked through to allow Adam Dias to pounce with 20 minutes remaining.  At this point a number of substitutions were made and Wicklow's concentration began to suffer again.  Longford put together some great attacking phases but strong defence once again from Hastie and Flemming deterred the Longford attack.  Wicklow were finally breached when the Longford centre once again made inroads and defly offloaded to his centre partner to score beside the posts. 

Wicklow maintained the pressure but leaked further tries prior to the fulltime whistle leading to a final score of 38 to 31. 

Wicklow played well in patches but will need to up their games considerably as they move forward to the semi-final in April. 

Best for Wicklow were Jason O'Neill, Peter Hastie, Riain Sweetman, David Nicholson and Brian O'Sullivan.

Wicklow team: