Portarlington overcome nervy opening to hammer Wexford

Portarlington progressed to the second round of the Towns Cup on Sunday last after a convincing win over a young Wexford team on a scoreline of 29-3.

Newstalk Provincial Towns Cup

Portarlington 29

Wexford Wanderers 3

Port started nervously and despite a lot of possession they could not convert it into points. David Murphy missed an early penalty but quickly made amends to put Port three points up. Stephen Oakley was carrying very effectively assisted by Joander Brazon and Port began to dominate.

The conditions started to deteriorate but despite this Portarlington managed to put one or two flowing phases together. the first one of these saw Paddy Hyland break down the blinside, off load to Ross Doyle and he found David Murphy who went on under the posts, and Murphy converted his own try.

Portarlington’s out half Paul Madden was using the conditions very well and was constantly putting Wexford’s back three under pressure.

Aidan Slattery and Ross Doyle both looked dangerous for Port. That pressure told after 30 minutes when another slick move saw Murphy go in under the posts, which he converted himself. It was 17-3 at half time, David Murphy scoring all of Port’s points after a fine display in the opening 40 minutes.

In the second half the weather continued to deteriorate, and the wind and rain was proving difficult for both teams to play any decent rugby.

Port did manage to regain some of the lost form over the last few weeks and began to move the ball very well. Ross Doyle was in devasting form on the wing and Wexford had no answer for the power and agression he brought to the game.

After ten minutes in the second half Doyle powered his way through a number of players and offloaded to Joander Brazon who went in under the posts. Murphy converted leaving the scrore 24 -3 with 15 minutes remaining.

Port made a number of subsitutions and will be extremely pleased with the quality of players that were sprung from the bench.

Hugh Emerson, Simon Powell, Mark Petriw and Wes Whitten all had immediate impacts on the game and helped Port close out the game as required.

Port did manage to score one more try off a set scrum and backline move which saw Ross Doyle slice through the Wexford defense to leave the game with a final scoreline off 29-3.

Elsewhere, Portarlington’s second team were knocked out off the cup on Saturday afternoon in Swords, while the ladies had an excellent win over Wexford on Sunday also, Rachel Murphy scoring a late try to seal an excellent victory.

PORTARLINGTON: David Murphy, Aidan Slattery, Sean Geogeghan, Padraig Maree, Ross Doyle, Paul Madden, Paddy Hyland, Cathal Bannon, Colm Dowling, Andrew Wilkenson, Conor Dunne, Declan Hennessy, Joander Brazon, Billy Walsh, Stephen Oakley. Subs: Hugh Emerson, Wes Whitten, Simon Powell, Mark Petriw, Jason Ryan